


Safe Haven

by Sand_wolf579



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Lewis Snart's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 20:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17690156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sand_wolf579/pseuds/Sand_wolf579
Summary: Len gets hurt badly by his father. While he's recovering in the hospital, Mick takes it upon himself to watch over Lisa.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I think about Len while listening to the song Concrete Angel. Do not worry though, I am not following the song exactly (why on earth would I do that?) but this story is inspired by it, so be prepared for some angst, child abuse, and scared kids. Oh, and sad stuff as well, because Len and Lisa had a tough childhood, and Concrete Angel is a sad song...like, a really, really sad song.
> 
> For this story, Len is about 20 years old, Mick is 22, and little Lisa is 8.

Lisa was in her domain. The ice rink. Arguably her favorite place in the world. Lisa always got such a thrill every single time she set foot on the ice. It was also the only place where she felt truly free. Whenever she glided gracefully over the ice, Lisa always felt like she was flying. She absolutely loved the feeling. It was addicting.

Lisa loved every second that she was on the ice, but her absolute favorite time to skate was during the half an hour before or after her weekly skating lessons. Lisa had been taking skating lessons for the past two years, and though it was a lot of fun to skate with other kids, she prefered it when she had the rink all to herself.

So every week Lisa would arrive early at the rink and skate around on the ice while she waited for all the other kids to arrive. Then, after their lesson was over and all the kids went home, Lisa would usually continue skating for as long as she could, until the older kids began to arrive for their lesson.

This week was a little different for Lisa though. After the lesson, while all the other kids immediately went to join their waiting parents, Lisa stayed on the ice, as usual. A few minutes later, when all the other kids had already left, Lisa was in the middle of practicing her Waltz Jump when somebody from off the ice called out to her.

"Lisa!" The eight year old smiled at the sound of the familiar rough voice. She skated over to the edge near where two young adults were waiting for her. Her older brother, Lenny, who, as always, looked content to just be watching her skate on the ice. Today though Lisa thought that Lenny's smile seemed a little sad, and that worried her.

Standing right next to her brother was his best friend, (though both of them would deny it) Mick Rory. Mick had been the one who had called out to Lisa. And, unlike Len, he didn't look happy to be there at all. Lisa knew that this was just because Mick was being a baby about the chilly temperature of the rink. He hated the cold.

"You're here early." Lisa commented as she got off the ice, sat down on a bench, and began taking her skates off. She knew that when Len came, it was time to go, unless he said otherwise.

"We need to be home early today." Len said. "Dad's going out of town tomorrow, remember?"

Lisa frowned. Yeah, she did remember. She always had mixed feelings about when their dad went somewhere for 'business'. On the one hand, he was always gone for a few weeks, which meant that she and Len could get a break from him. On the other hand, their dad, who was already a mean and easily angered man, always became even more irritable the night before he left. Len said it was because of nerves or something.

Whatever the reason, Len and Lisa always tried to be especially careful around their father when he was about to go out of town. Even on a good day, Lewis Snart was a scary and dangerous man. Especially when he got angry. On days like this though, he would snap at the smallest little thing that Len or Lisa did wrong.

Tonight though, Lisa was determined to not do anything wrong. She would be a good girl tonight. For Lenny's sake. Lisa looked at her brother and she could see the signs of the terrible bruising that was on his neck from when their dad had gotten angry a few days ago. Len was wearing a turtleneck to try to hide the bruise, but it only covered so much.

"So I guess no hot chocolate?" Lisa asked. Lenny almost always took her to get hot chocolate after her ice skating lesson.

"Not today. I'm sorry." Len said, and he just looked so sad about it that Lisa immediately felt bad about bringing it up in the first place. Len did his best to watch out for her, and give her everything that she needed or wanted. He always felt so disappointed when he felt like he wasn't able to do enough for her. As if he was failing as an older brother.

"It's okay." Lisa said cheerfully. She didn't like it when Lenny got like this. He was an amazing brother, even if he was a jerk sometimes.

"You two can finish your conversation anywhere. Why don't we go someplace a little warmer Mick suggested irritably. "Like Antarctica."

Lisa giggled and Len rolled his eyes. "Stop your whining. We're going." He shouldered Lisa's skating bag and led the way out. "You know, if the cold bothers you this much, why don't you just bring a jacket next time?"

"It's the middle of summer." Mick said. "Somebody would have to be crazy to wear a jacket in this heat."

"Lenny's wearing a jacket." Lisa pointed out. She tugged at the sleeve of said jacket that he was wearing over his long sleeved turtle neck. Lisa wondered, not for the first time, why he didn't seem the least bit bothered by the heat.

Mick smirked. "My point stands." Lisa laughed and Len made a face that was part scowl and part pout. Mick chuckled and threw an arm over Len's shoulder. Len glared at him in annoyance, but then cracked a slight smile.

Lisa grinned to herself as she watched Len and Mick interact. Her brother just seemed so sad and lonely all the time, and he almost never smiled. Ever since he began spending more and more time with Mick though, that had started to change. Mick was the only other person in the world that Lisa knew who could get Len to smile. Other than herself, of course. And for him to be able to accomplish that on a day like this, it was truly impressive, and Lisa couldn't be happier that Len had met Mick, even if they had met in juvie.

The three of them went out to the parking lot and Lisa was slightly disappointed to see Mick's car there. She always liked it when Mick and Len took their motorcycles to pick her up from ice skating. She enjoyed riding in the sidecar of Lenny's bike. Lisa wondered just why Mick had brought his car instead, because she knew that the two of them prefered the motorcycles just as much as she did.

Lisa didn't ask about it though. She just kept quiet and slid into the backseat. The drive home was a quiet one. Mick kept on trying to make conversation, but Len's answers were short and cold. Eventually, Mick gave up trying. It was obvious that Len wasn't in a talking mood. Lisa appreciated Mick's effort though, especially since he usually wasn't a fan of small talk.

The closer they got to home, the more anxious and irritable Len became. He tried to hide how he was feeling, but Lisa saw that he was nervous. And, if the concerned glances Mick kept on throwing Len's way were any indication, he also saw it.

Far too soon they arrived at the Snart house. Mick parked across the street and, for a moment, none of them did anything. Lisa was admittedly kinda scared, but she relaxed when she saw that the driveway was empty, which meant that their father wasn't home now. For some reason, this information didn't calm Len. If anything, it made him more nervous.

Len took a minute to collect himself before unbuckling and opening the car door to leave. Lisa followed his example. Once he was outside the car Len turned back to Mick.

"Thanks for the ride." Len said shortly. "You can leave now."

"Hell no." Mick snorted. "Not gonna happen." To prove his point, Mick turned off the ignition and pocketed the keys. He looked at Len smugly. In return, Len gave Mick an exasperated look, though there was another emotion in his eyes that Lisa couldn't quite identify. Relief? Gratitude? Lisa wasn't sure what she saw, of if she even saw it at all. Maybe she just imagined that look in her brother's eyes.

"Do what you want." Len shrugged. He took Lisa's hand and began to walk to their house. Lisa looked up at her brother, turned her head to see Mick still sitting in his parked car, and then back to Len.

"What's Mick doing?" Lisa asked.

"He's being an idiot." Len muttered, though there was a layer of fondness and appreciation in his voice. He didn't explain any more, and Lisa didn't ask.

The two siblings entered their house which was, as predicted, silent and empty. It looked as if their father really wasn't home yet. Lisa breathed a sigh in relief. Len narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Lisa didn't really understand what his problem was. Their dad wasn't there, which meant they could relax.

For some reason though, Len didn't seem to get this. Instead of becoming less tense, he seemed more nervous that their dad was absent. Len could get quite irritable when he was on edge like this. He never got nearly as mean as daddy did, but Len could still be pretty scary when he wanted to be. Lisa could tell that, despite their dad being gone, Len was in a bad mood, and likely would be for the rest of the night.

Lisa decided to go up to her room to play for a bit. Len seemed like he needed some 'alone' time. Lisa spent a couple of hours by herself, most of which she spent going through her jewelry collection. It wasn't exactly playing, but Lisa found it fun, so it counted. Around 7:00 Lisa noticed how hungry she was, so she went back downstairs to get some dinner.

In the kitchen Lisa quickly made herself a grilled cheese sandwich, which was one of the few meals that she actually knew how to make. Once it was done cooking Lisa took her sandwich and, as she ate it, went to go find her brother. It didn't take long to find him, but as soon as she did Lisa kinda wished that she hadn't.

She found Len sitting on the floor against the wall in the living room. One of his legs was drawn up to his chest, and the other was spread out in front of him. He was constantly tapping one of his fingers on the ground, and he kept on looking up at the clock on the wall anxiously.

Lisa frowned, a slight feeling of fear came over her. It wasn't very often that she saw Len like this (though, according to Mick, it seemed to happen all the time and he just tried to always hide it from Lisa) but whenever she did, it always scared Lisa.

Whenever Len got like this, he could stay that way for a few hours. During that time, he was much more jumpy, but also much less responsive. Half the time, when Lisa saw Len like this and tried to talk to him, he wouldn't even act like he had heard her at all.

"Lenny, are you okay?" Lisa asked cautiously. The tapping of Len's finger paused momentarily.

"I'm fine." The tapping continued immediately, but Lisa still breathed a sigh of relief. At least Len was responding to her. That meant that he wasn't too far gone to his thoughts yet. Lisa took her half eaten sandwich and held it out to Len.

"Eat this." Lisa pleaded. She knew that he hadn't eaten dinner yet, because if he had made food, he would have made some for Lisa as well. And, knowing her brother, he probably hadn't eaten anything all day. If he had, it would have only been because Mick had forced him to. "Please."

Possibly because he couldn't say no to Lisa's begging, or possibly because he was just not in the right mindset to argue, Len took the sandwich. Lisa gave a small, sad smile, glad that she could do at least that much for him.

Lisa sat down next to her brother, took Len's available hand (the one he had been using to tap on the floor) and made it so that his arm was wrapped around her shoulders. Lisa leaned against her brother. She began talking to him. She told him about how school was going. She talked about her ice skating. She just talked about whatever came to her mind because maybe, if Len was busy listening to her speak, he wouldn't become trapped within his own thoughts.

This worked for a while. Len still didn't talk to Lisa, but at least he seemed to understand what she was saying, and she considered that a win. Time passed and, before Lisa knew it, it was nearly 8:30...her bedtime.

Lisa knew what time it was, and that normally she would be going to bed about now, but she couldn't. She wouldn't leave Len all by himself. Not tonight. So Lisa kept quiet about the time and just hoped that Len wasn't aware of how late it was.

...yeah, since when was Lenny not aware of the exactly time?

At precisely 8:30 Len shifted a bit. "It's time for bed, Lisa." He said blankly.

Lisa shook her head and held tighter to her brother. She couldn't go to bed right now. "Can I stay up just a little later? Please?" Lisa asked.

"Not tonight." Len moved his arm so it wasn't wrapped around Lisa anymore. He gave her a small, gentle push to get her moving.

Lisa wanted to argue with Len. She wanted to stay up so that she could make sure that he was okay. She was sure that she could get away with just refusing to go up to her room. After all, Len wasn't in any state right now to force her to go to bed.

But she didn't. Despite desperately wanting to do otherwise, Lisa did as her older brother said, because she knew that she had to. Their father may have not been home right then, but he could return at any moment. If Lisa was still awake when he got home, their father would get very, very angry, and that was the one thing that the siblings wanted to avoid that night.

Lisa sighed in defeat and stood up. She gave her brother one last hug and planted kiss on his forehead. She whispered "Goodnight" and "I love you" to him. Len didn't respond, but Lisa hadn't expected him to. She began to head toward her room, but paused for a moment when she heard Len begin tapping anxiously at the floor.

Lisa frowned and looked out the window. From here she could clearly see the still empty driveway, and she could also see Mick's car still parked across the street. Lisa was glad that Mick was so near, but she wished that he was actually here rather than over there. Mick knew how to deal with Len when he got like this better than Lisa did.

She was almost tempted to go out there and get Mick, but Lisa knew that she couldn't do that either. If their dad came home to find Mick with Len, then they would all be in really big trouble.

Feeling completely helpless, Lisa continued the small trip to her room. Lisa put on her purple and gold pajamas, decided to skip brushing her teeth that night, and crawled into her bed. Lisa's mind was racing and she just couldn't stop worrying. It felt like she would never get to sleep. Eventually though she began to doze off and soon after she fell into a restless sleep.

A few hours later the sound of the front door slamming shut woke Lisa. Immediately wide awake, Lisa sat up in her bed and hardly breathed as she tried to listen to what was going on downstairs. Only a few moments passed before the shouting began, which just confirmed Lisa's initial suspicion that their father had finally come home, and he was mad.

Lisa whimpered and pulled her blanket close. Tears gathered in her eyes at all the yelling, crashing, and just noise in general that was coming from downstairs. She tried to tone out the noise. She tried to think about something else, anything else than what she knew was going on. But she couldn't block out everything, and any noise that was particularly loud or jarring only served as a reminder of just who was downstairs getting hurt, while she was up here, cowering pathetically in her room.

Lisa sobbed quietly and clutched tightly at her pillow. She hated that there was nothing she could do to help Lenny. She wasn't old enough, or strong enough, to stop their father from hurting Lenny, and if she tried then it would only serve to make their father more angry, and then he would just hurt Lenny even more.

The only thing that Lisa could do was sit here and wait for it all to end.

So that's what Lisa did. She sat quietly on her bed, trying to stifle her sobs. She waited, and she listened. She hated hearing all the noises from downstairs, but she listened to it anyways, because how else was she going to know what was going on.

After what felt like forever the noise suddenly stopped, almost all at once. There was no more yelling. No more crashes. There weren't even any thumps. The house was completely silent.

Lisa sat in the silence and darkness with bated breath. Her father's anger had burned out for now. It was all over. Any minute now Lenny would come through that door to check up on her, just like he did every time this happened.

Lisa waited impatiently for her brother, but five minutes passed and he still hadn't shown up. Lisa began to grow afraid. Something was wrong. Len was taking way too long for this to be normal. The silent house that Lisa had found comforting just moments ago suddenly unnerved her. Why was it so quiet? Where was everyone?

...Why hadn't Len come to get her yet?

Unable to take it anymore, Lisa climbed out of her bed. If Len wasn't going to come get her, then she would have to go find him. Lisa slowly opened the door to her room, wincing at the slight squeak it gave off, and left her room. Lisa tentatively crept down the stairs. The lights weren't on, but after sitting in the darkness for so long Lisa's eyes were well adjusted. She could easily make her way around, even with the knocked over furniture and broken vases.

Lisa crept into the family room and froze at the sight that she saw before her. There was a person lying there on the ground, unmoving. It felt like Lisa's heart stopped, because she instantly knew who it was.

"Lenny!" Lisa rushed to her brother's side. She shook his shoulders in an attempt to wake him up, but he didn't respond. "Lenny, you need to get up. Please!" Lisa began crying as she begged her brother to wake up. No matter what she said or did though, it didn't work. Len remained as unresponsive as ever.

It scared Lisa just how still and quiet Len was being. She couldn't even tell if he was breathing or not. If she didn't know any better, Lisa would think that he...that Len…

"No!" Lisa screamed. She desperately held on to her brother as sobs wracked through her body. "Lenny, wake up! Lenny!"

Lisa was focused entirely on her brother that she didn't even notice her father coming up behind her, a broken, bloody beer bottle in his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting in his car, Mick took a long, slow drag from his cigarette, letting the smoke fill his lungs. He knew that Len would glare at him disapprovingly if he saw him smoking again, but right then, Mick really didn't give a damn about what Len would say about it. Mick was feeling stressed out, and smoking always helped to take the edge off. Besides, despite what Len thought, smoking helped Mick to feel more alert during a long wait, and tonight had been a very long wait.

Mick had been sitting in his car, waiting, for hours now, and he was freaking bored out of his mind. Still, no matter how bored he was, Mick stayed parked exactly where he was because he wasn't about to risk leaving. Not after what had happened the last couple of times their dad had left.

The last time he had gone out of town for a heist or something, which had been a couple of months before, he had broken Len's arm before leaving. It had been a really bad break, and Len's arm was still not fully healed from it.

And the time before, which had been nearly a year ago, had been the first, and last, time that Lewis had dared to lay a hand on Lisa. He hadn't hurt her since then, Len had made sure of that. Still, Lewis Snart was always at his worst on the night before leaving for a heist, and this time Mick was going to be here, just in case their dad went a step too far and the siblings needed his help.

At first, Len had not been very happy with Mick's plan to hang around all night, but he eventually agreed. But only if Mick stayed outside and only came in to help them if it was an actual emergency. Mick had agreed to Len's conditions, but only now, after waiting for so long, did he realize a flaw in the plan.

How the hell was he supposed to know if things had gotten to an emergency level or not if he was stuck outside?

The longer Mick waited, the more he just wanted to go in there and see Len. Even if their father hadn't been home for the majority of the night, Mick was sure that Len was probably freaking out still. That was a weird thing about Len. He was the type of guy who liked to know exactly what to expect when. If things ever went differently than how he was expecting it to go, whether the change was good or bad, Len would close in on himself and become really anxious. Especially if the change happened and he wasn't told about it before hand.

Hours passed and it was well into the night when Lewis Snart finally decided to show up. Once he was home Mick's desire to disobey Len's orders spiked. Mick's every instinct was telling him to get into that house and help Len, but still he stayed outside. There was no way to tell just how badly things were going in there, and if Mick just went in and disobeyed Len's orders when there was no real need for it, Len would become absolutely furious with him.

Mick didn't want to get Len mad at him again. The last time he had gone against what Len had told him to do, the younger man had been so upset with him that he had ignored him for nearly six months. Mick didn't want to go through that whole thing again. So, against his better judgement, Mick stayed right where he was.

Some time passed before Mick decided that enough was enough. He was going to go in there, screw the consequences. Sure, he wouldn't like it if Len ignored him for the next couple of months, but just so long as he was alive to be able to ignore him, Mick would be fine with it.

Just as he was leaving his car he heard a sound from the Snart house that made his blood run hot and cold all at once. It was the terrified, pain filled scream of a little girl.

...Lisa!

"Damnit." Mick swore loudly. Without even bothering to close his car door Mick made a dash to the house across the street and just hoped that he wasn't too late. He threw open the front door, which was already thankfully, already unlocked. The house was dark, but Mick could still make out the shadowy form of a man who had a too tight of grip on a much smaller figure who was crying desperately.

Mick saw red.

He snatched a lamp up from a nearby table and bludgeoned it against Lewis Snart's head, knocking him out cold. Mick was so very tempted to continue to hit the man with the lamp until he never woke up again, but he held back. As much as he wanted to kill the bastard, he had other things to concern himself about at the moment. Besides, if anybody should have the honors of killing Lewis Snart, it should be Len. It would only be fair.

So Mick let the bastard live, for now, and turned his attention away from the unconscious man to the hysterical, scared little girl.

"Lisa, are you okay?" Mick knelt and put his hands on Lisa's shoulders. "Did he hurt you?" That was a stupid question. It was dark, so he couldn't see much, but he could feel a bunch of blood on the spot between her shoulder and her neck. Even without seeing it Mick could tell that it was a nasty cut, and once again a burning rage came over Mick. How dare that man hurt this little girl!

Lisa couldn't seem to be able to calm herself down enough to answer him coherently. She just cried and clutched at his arm as if it was a lifeline. Mick held her for a minute, a feeling of dread building up within him. Lisa meant the world to Len, and he never would have allowed her to get hurt like this. So where exactly was he?

Mick took a quick glance over the dark room and noticed to his horror that there was a second unconscious figure lying on the ground.

"Lenny!" Mick let go of Lisa, and she, surprisingly, let him, so he could check on his friend. Kneeling beside Len, Mick put two fingers on Len's wrist and waited. After a short but anxious wait Mick felt it. A pulse. It was way too slow, but at least he now knew that Len was alive. Now he just had to figure out what was wrong with him.

As with Lisa, it was too dark to see the extent of Len's injuries, which wouldn't do at all. How was he supposed to know what to do if he didn't even know what was wrong? Mick turned his head toward Lisa.

"Lise, can you turn on a light or something?" Mick asked, hoping that the little girl wasn't so upset that she would become unresponsive like Len did sometimes. To Mick's pleasure though Lisa understood the urgency. She was still sobbing desperately, but she did as Mick asked and turned on the light.

Now Mick could see properly, but he didn't much like what he saw. Len looked in pretty bad shape, but the absolute worst of it was definitely his stomach. It looked like Lisa wasn't the only one that Lewis had cut into that night, except Len's wound seemed to be much worse. A deep gash was in Len's stomach, and it was bleeding really badly.

Mick quickly deduced that he wouldn't be able to take care of Len on his own. Simple cuts or bruises, or maybe a dislocated shoulder, those were the types of things that Mick could handle. An injury like this though? This was beyond what Mick could do, which meant he had to take Len to somebody who could help him. And soon, because it didn't seem like they had much time. Len was already growing pale from blood loss.

"Hang on, buddy. We're going to get you to a hospital." Mick said, even though he knew that Len couldn't hear him. Gently, so as to not hurt Len any more than he already was, Mick picked him up. "Lisa, get in the car." Mick ordered. His tone was harsher than he had intended, but they really needed to get going.

Fortunately Lisa didn't become even more upset because of Mick's tone, she just did as she was told. Lisa lead the way to Mick's car and climbed into the back seat. Mick waited until she was seated in the corner before he awkwardly laid Len down across the back sets so his head was resting on Lisa's lap.

Mick took off his sweaty, bloody shirt, leaving him in just his old tank top, and passed the shirt to Lisa. "We need to try to slow down the bleeding." Mick explained. "Use this to keep pressure on the cut, okay? Can you do that for me?" For a moment Mick was afraid that Lisa would either be too distraught, or simply not understand what he needed her to do. However, Lisa nodded dimly, leaned over awkwardly so she could reach Len's stomach, and pushed the shirt down over the cut, stanching the blood flow a bit.

Mick was impressed, and slightly unnerved. Lisa was still very upset, and it seemed like she was now just moving on autopilot, which meant that doing something like putting pressure on a wound was familiar enough to her that she could just do it naturally.

Mick supposed it only made sense. After all, Lewis beat up on Len often enough that over the years Lisa would have learned how to help with his injuries, including stopping a cut from bleeding too much. And while it was useful that Lisa could do this, Mick was not happy at all that she could do it while she was obviously traumatized. Something like this should not be that normal of a thing in a child's life. Or anybody's life, really.

Mick couldn't worry about that now though. And he also couldn't worry about whether or not Len's wound will get infected because they were using Mick's dirty shirt to stop the bleeding. The only thing that Mick should worry about and focus on at the moment was getting to the hospital as quick as possible.

There were a number of hospitals in Central City, and Mick knew exactly which one to go to. It wasn't the best one, or even the closest to their current location, but it was the only hospital in the city that Mick trusted.

Pines View Hospital was the smallest and shabbiest of all the hospitals in Central City. Actually, it was more of a rundown clinic than a hospital, yet it was the only place Mick felt comfortable taking Len. Most citizens of Central City wouldn't even consider going to Pines View Hospital for medical help. In fact, Mick was sure that the only patients they received were criminals, people who were living on the streets, and/or kids like Len or Lisa, or got shoved around by their parents.

These people went to Pines View because the hospital made a point of not asking awkward questions or calling the cops. The doctors simply did the work they had to do, and sent the patient on their way.

Despite the hospital's shoddy appearance, they did good work. They also charged very little, or sometimes even nothing at all, for their services. The only reason that the hospital could still afford to keep itself up and running was because many criminals made a point to donate a fair amount of money to them. Because even a bunch of lowlife thieves can realize that if they don't keep this hospital open, they won't have anybody who will work on their bullet wounds without calling the cops.

Pines View Hospital was known for its discretion, and Mick was sure that Len would appreciate that. The last thing they needed was for the cops to be brought in because of a case of child abuse. Lewis Snart was an old dirty cop himself, and he still had many 'pals' on the police force. No, involving the cops would only end badly.

Even though Pines View wasn't the closest hospital or clinic to the Snart house, it was still a reasonable distance. It wasn't too long of a drive before they arrived. Mick parked as close to the entrance as he could, carried Len inside, and the doctors took it from there.

Of course, Mick and Lisa weren't allowed in the back and they had to stay in the waiting room. This was the part about hospital visits that Mick hated most. The waiting. The not knowing how bad things were, or when it will be better again. It also didn't help that the waiting room, and actually the whole hospital, constantly had the smell of blood and sickness about it. Pines View was a decent hospital, but they couldn't do anything to get rid of the stench.

Sitting in the waiting room, Mick cast a concerned glance at Lisa, who was curled up in the chair next to him. Now that Len was being taken care of, Mick could focus his concern on Lisa. The little girl was clinging desperately to Mick's arm. She was shaking and sobbing quietly. Mick couldn't even imagine how scared she must be, and he was sure that the negative atmosphere around the hospital was certainly not helping.

Mick sighed and got up from his seat so that he could kneel in front of Lisa. He had almost forgotten that she had gotten hurt too, and he should probably see just how bad it was. Now that he was able to actually see the cut between her shoulder and neck, he could see that it was fairly serious. Nowhere near as bad as Len's wound. In fact, Mick doubted that Lisa would even need stitches for it. But it was bad enough that Mick could tell that it was probably very painful, and deep enough that it would most likely scar.

So, not quite serious enough that she necessarily needed to get it looked at by a doctor, but bad enough that it needed some attention. If Lisa was anything like Len, she would probably much rather prefer having somebody that she knew and trusted look after her wound, rather than a complete stranger.

Coming to a decision, Mick stood up and offered his hand out to Lisa. "Come on, Lise, let's get you home." Mick thought for a second before clarifying. "My home, not yours." Lisa looked up at Mick blankly, her eyes still wet with tears. Hesitantly she reached out and took Mick's hand, giving him the okay to take her back to his place.

Mick hated the atmosphere around this hospital, and he knew that Lisa did too. They had no idea just how long the doctors would be with Len for. It might be hours before they would be allowed to see him, and Mick really did not want to wait around in this hospital that smelled like blood any longer than he had to.

If they were going to have to wait for god knows how long, Mick figured they might as well wait in a more comfortable place. If he took Lisa back to his apartment not only would he be able to get her cut taken care of, but also get her cleaned up a bit. And, with any luck, maybe get her to relax and sleep for a bit, because she definitely looked like she could use some rest.

Seriously, Mick had never seen Lisa look so haggard before. With her ripped, blood covered clothes, tangled hair, and tired yet blank expression on her face Mick thought that Lisa kinda resembled an extra in a zombie movie, and he figured that that wasn't a good thing.

Mick put his arms around Lisa, picked her up, and went to leave. He still wasn't entirely confident in his decision to leave the hospital so soon, but what else was he supposed to do? Waiting around here was going to make no more of a different for Len than waiting around at his apartment would.

Mick just had to calm down and remember that the doctors knew what they were doing. He just had to trust them to look after Len, and focus on looking after Lisa. Mick didn't really just want to leave Len, but he figured it would be fine. If anything did end up happening to Len, well the hospital had his phone number. They knew to call him if they had any news about Len while he was gone.

The drive from Pines View to Mick's place was quiet and uneventful. Mick drove in complete silence, occasionally glancing over to the seat next to him where Lisa was sitting this time. She had her legs drawn up to her chest, and she was sniffling quietly to herself, but she never said anything during the drive. This just caused Mick to grow more concerned about her.

Lisa, by nature, was a very talkative person. She didn't necessarily blab on and on about a topic that nobody cared about, but she did like speaking. Tonight had been the longest period of time that Lisa hadn't spoken a word, and it was concerning. The way that Lisa was acting reminded Mick of how Len got.

Usually, Len was most definitely a talker. He knew how to be quiet when he had to be, but Mick often got the impression that Len just liked hearing himself speak. There were times though, especially when things went wrong, when Len would land himself in a funk and become broody and depressed. And then there were the times when he got like that for absolutely no reason at all.

Regardless of the reason why Len would get all depressed, it could always be 'fixed' in the same type of way. Over the years Mick liked to think that he had gotten to know Len pretty well, and he knew numerous ways to make Len feel better, even if just by a little bit. If what was up with Lisa was anything like what bothered Len, Mick hoped that helping her get over it would be similar to how he helped Len get over it.

By letting him do whatever the hell would make him happy.

It just made sense to Mick. If Len was in a bad mood, get him to do something that would get him in a good mood. Unfortunately, it wasn't always as easy as that. Sometimes Len got in such a bad funk that he didn't even feel like doing the things he loved to do, and that would make him feel guilty and grow even more depressed. Still, Mick was usually able to knock him out of whatever was bugging him, simply because he tried, while at the same time making sure he didn't push Len to his limits.

When they got to Mick's apartment he once again picked up Lisa. (which served to remind him of just how small both she and her brother were. Mick made a mental note to himself to make sure these two ate more often.) The first thing he did when he brought her inside was he took her into the bathroom.

Mick gently set Lisa on the floor and then knelt next to the bathtub and turned the water on. After making sure that the water was neither burning nor freezing, he let it begin to fill the tub.

"That cut needs to get cleaned." Mick informed Lisa, just incase she was confused about what he was doing. "And the rest of you kinda does too." Not that she smelled bad or looked dirty or anything like that, but Lisa was absolutely covered in blood. Both her own and Len's. The blood was seriously everywhere, and Mick just thought it would be easiest to clean it all off with a bath.

After the bathtub was filled with warm water Mick turned back to face Lisa and frowned. He had decided that it would be good for Lisa to get a bath, not only would it wash the blood away, but it might also help her to relax. Now though Mick was beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea, because he had no idea what he was supposed to do!

Mick knew from first hand experience that it could be difficult to clean your own wound, especially if it was somewhere where you would have to use your non dominant hand to clean it, like Lisa's cut was. She wouldn't be able to do this herself, which meant that Mick would have to stay in here and help her clean the wound.

There was a major problem with that though. It would be easiest for him to properly clean the wound if her shirt wasn't in the way. If Lisa was Len, Mick would have already made her strip her shirt off. But she wasn't Len, she was Lisa, which meant that she was a girl. A girl child! It would be really weird, bordering on creepy, if he told her that he needed her to take her shirt off.

The situation had become too awkward for Mick, so he just decided to leave. "I'll, uh...I'll just go." Mick said uncomfortably, because he really didn't know what else to say, or do, and this whole thing was just too weird for his liking. As Mick got up to leave, Lisa grabbed onto his arm, stopping him.

Mick turned and saw Lisa looking at him with wide eyes. She was still hurt, upset, and scared. And, judging by her tight unyielding grip on his arm, she did not want him to leave. Mick looked into Lisa's eyes and tried to think of a way to tell her that he couldn't, and shouldn't, be in here while she bathed. It...it was wrong. People didn't help each other bathe, unless...wait. Did that rule still apply when one of the people was a kid?

Mick wasn't sure, and since he couldn't think of any real reason to give Lisa as to why he should leave, he didn't. Mick just sighed and resigned himself to his fate. Besides, he really should stay and help her. With her shoulder hurt Mick doubted that she would even be able to get out of her pajamas by herself. So, pushing aside how weird this felt, Mick began to help her.

Getting Lisa out of her shirt was a little awkward and slow, because Mick didn't want to agitate her cut any more than it already was. Finally though they managed it, and Mick realized something that made this whole situation much less weird. Mick had apparently forgotten how young and small Lisa was. She was still just a little kid, which meant that she didn't have...yeah, that definitely made things instantly less weird and uncomfortable. At least he didn't have to worry about that.

Lisa managed to get her pajama bottoms off by herself and she got into the tub and sank into the water. She let out a shaky sigh of relief or something of the sort, which told Mick that the water felt good. He was glad, because this next part wouldn't feel nearly as good, and it wasn't going to be fun, for either of them.

Mick grabbed a washcloth and soaked it in the water. He wrung it out a little, just so that it wasn't dripping wet. Mick took a deep breath and forced himself to focus. He then brought the washcloth to the cut near Lisa's shoulder and ever so gently began cleaning around the wound. Or, at least, he tried to be gentle about it. Still though, he could feel Lisa flinch whenever he tried to scrub away the blood.

Lisa stayed silent as Mick worked until he started cleaning the actual cut itself. Lisa let out a small whimper when he touched the actual cut itself. Mick felt bad, because he knew that he was hurting her, but he had to. This little bit of pain now would be infinitely times better than if her cut got infected. Mick had to clean the cut.

After he was satisfied with the cleanliness of the cut Mick put down the wet washcloth and picked up a fresh, soft towel. Mick took a corner of the towel and dabbed gently around the cut to dry it. Once that was done Mick put some antiseptic stuff on the cut and then covered it with a gauze pad.

"Think you can take it from here?" Mick asked. He had done what he had stayed in here to do. If Lisa really wanted him to stay even longer, he would, but it didn't seem like he was needed in here anymore. Lisa seemed to be more relaxed now...or, at least, she wasn't crying anymore.

Lisa looked down and nodded. Mick gave her a little smile and brushed a hand through her hair a bit. "Okay. I'll leave the towel for when you're ready to get out." Mick got up and grabbed Lisa's bloody pajamas on his way out, because these things really needed to get washed too, and left the room.

Mick tossed Lisa's things into the washer, went into his living room and just collapsed onto the couch. It had been a long night, and it wasn't even over yet. Mick was feeling absolutely drained and very stressed out. He felt like he was about to completely lose it.

Mick's every instinct told him to get his butt back to the Snart house now while Lewis was still unconscious inside. Mick desperately wanted to light the damn place on fire and then sitting and watching it burn, while Len's bastard of a father was still inside, of course.

But Mick didn't do that. He couldn't. Not while he was watching Lisa. She was upset and scared enough was it was. If she saw him completely lose it, she would likely just get even worse. Mick had to be the responsible one here. If he wasn't the calm one, then nobody would be.

Mick sighed, got to his feet, and headed for the kitchen. He had the sudden urge to get some food or something. Not because he was hungry or anything like that, because he actually felt kinda sick to his stomach, but because it would give him something to do. And, though Mick would never dare to admit it to anybody, cooking relaxed him. And boy, did he need some relaxation right now.

Mick didn't cook any actual food, because he didn't think he would be able to stomach doing that. Instead he made the one thing that he knew would work to calm down a Snart. Hot chocolate, which just so happened to be one of Mick's favorite things to make. It was warm, it was sweet, and Len was absolutely obsessed with the stuff. What was there not to like about it?

Of course, if Mick was going to make hot chocolate, he was going to do it right. None of that cheap instant powdery stuff. No, Mick made his hot chocolate from scratch. Not only did it taste better (if made right) but there was also much more variety with it, which Mick liked. It was always fun to experiment with different flavors.

Tonight though Mick was just sticking to a normal batch of hot chocolate, and later he would add tons of mini marshmallows to it, because that was exactly the way that Len liked it. Well, almost exactly. The only difference was that Len prefered the chocolate to be dark, not normal, which just always confused Mick. Because dark chocolate was bitter, and marshmallows were practically pure sugar...so basically Len's preference of hot chocolate was both too bitter and too sweet. Mick didn't get it. He would have thought that the two flavors would just counteract each other. But hey, to each their own.

As Lisa was a kid, Mick didn't think she would appreciate dark chocolate as much as Len did, so he just stuck to making plain, old, boring hot chocolate. Right when he was finishing up making the stuff Mick heard little footsteps, meaning that Lisa had finished and finally come out.

Mick turned toward Lisa and was kinda confused for a moment. She was soaking wet, obviously, and had the towel wrapped around her like a blanket or something. Mick briefly wondered why she hadn't put on some clothes or something, until he remembered that the only clothes that she had were her pajamas, which were currently being washed.

Right...Mick hadn't thought things through entirely when he had taken her pajamas. Well, it looked like he would just have to find something else for Lisa to wear. No problem. Len borrowed Mick's clothes all the time when he stayed over, so why couldn't Lisa just do the same?

Mick went over to Lisa and held out a hand for her. "Come on." He said. "Let's see if we can find you something to wear." Now, Mick wasn't an idiot. He knew that his clothes would be way too big for Lisa. Heck, they were way too big for Len. But Mick figured that they would be able to find something that would work just for that night. Like maybe one of his shirts. It would probably be so big on Lisa that it would do just fine as a nightgown or something. Little girls wore those, right?

Mick showed Lisa where he kept his shirts and told her to just pick one that she liked. While she was looking through her options (scrunching her nose up at quite a few of them) Mick went back to the kitchen to get Lisa a mug of hot chocolate. By the time he got back to his room Lisa had already put on the shirt of her choice, and Mick had nearly laughed out loud and spilled the hot chocolate when he had seen it.

The shirt was one that Mick didn't wear very often, but it was one of his favorites. It wasn't really his style, but he had bought the shirt because he thought that the design on it had looked really cool and he just liked to look at it. What was funny about Lisa picking that specific shirt was that it was the same shirt that Len choose every time he stayed over at Mick's place. For some reason, the two Snart's really liked it.

The shirt was black with the design of a blue dragon guarding its hoard of treasure on it. Mick liked the shirt specifically because of the look of the dragon. Somehow, the dragon looked equally badass and majestic at the same time.

"Figures you would pick that shirt." Mick snorted. He went over to the bed where Lisa was sitting and handed her the mug. He then sat down behind her and began combing at her hair with his fingers. He wasn't sure what compelled him to do it, but it must have been the right idea because he could feel Lisa relaxing even more while he did it.

Mick worked at untangling any twists in her hair, and once he was done with that he began doing something that he remembered his mom used to do for his own sisters whenever they were upset. He started braiding her hair.

Mick didn't put the hair into one big braid, because there was too much hair for that and, while he knew how to braid, he wasn't very good at it. Mick decided to start smaller, to braid just a part of her hair. He didn't have any hair ties or anything, but because her hair was still really wet and stayed bunched together, he didn't really need one. The braid stayed together fairly well without it.

After he finished the first one Mick went on to another, and then another. Mick figured that with the way he was doing it he would end up doing about eight braids. He knew it wouldn't exactly look like the prettiest thing in the world, but if he was remembering correctly it would look pretty cool tomorrow morning.

When Mick was about halfway through with the braids Lisa shifted a tiny bit and spoke in a quiet voice. "Micky?" He froze when he heard her voice, because it was the first time all night that she had spoken. Mick couldn't even begin to explain how relieved he was to her her.

"Yeah Lise?" Mick urged her to continue as he went on with braiding her hair.

"Is...do you think that Lenny's going to be okay?" Lisa asked.

"Are you kidding? Your brother is the toughest son of a bitch I know." Mick said, not even bothering to watch his language around her. "He's not going to let something like this stop him. He'll be back to his old self before you know it." Lisa sighed in relief and leaned back against Mick, a small smile on her face.

Lisa knew that Mick wouldn't say something like that just to reassure her. Mick was a brutally honest guy. He didn't say something unless he really meant it. If Mick said that Len would be okay, then he would be.

By the time Mick was finished with braiding her hair Lisa was beginning to doze off, which was good because it was starting to get really late. It would be good for Lisa to get at least some sleep. Slowly, so as to not bother Lisa, Mick got up and went to leave.

Mick figured that Lisa was tired and would immediately try to fall asleep, but just before he left the room he heard Lisa muttering to herself. Curious, Mick paused at the door and listened. He couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, but he caught enough words here and there that he was able to deduce what she was doing.

Lisa was praying.

Mick knew that that was what Lisa was doing, because her brother sometimes did the same thing. Not that Len or Lisa were particularly religious people, because they weren't. Their belief in a god was just strong enough that when they were feeling at their absolute lowest they would call upon him for a little extra strength that they just didn't have.

Mick sighed and left the room, his chest aching slightly. He never really liked it when he caught these two praying. Not because he found their talking to a god insulting, because he didn't. Mick was fine with other people believing whatever the hell they wanted, just as long as they didn't try to shove what they believed down his throat.

No, the reason that he didn't like Lisa and Len praying was because they only did it when they felt weak, useless, and alone. Nobody deserved to feel that way, but especially not these two.

Mick returned to the kitchen and made another batch of hot chocolate, just for him. He didn't often make hot chocolate for himself, usually he just did it for Len, but when he did Mick liked to have a specific type. He preferred to make his hot chocolate with Chambord liqueur, which was basically raspberry flavored alcohol.

Usually Mick didn't like his alcohol to be fruity and sweet, but it was a different story when he was using it to flavor something else. Mick liked his hot chocolate this way because the flavors of raspberry and chocolate complimented each other nicely. And the alcohol added a little extra kick to the drink, which was exactly when Mick needed.

Mick took his hot drink and sank back down on the couch. Now that Lisa was going to bed and Mick didn't have to focus all of his attention on her, his attention, and worry, turned right back to Len. If Mick was being completely honest with himself though, he wasn't just worried about Len. He was downright scared for his safety.

Now, Mick hadn't been lying when he had told Lisa that he knew that Len would be just fine. The doctors at Pines View Hospital knew what they were doing, and Mick was sure that they would be able to get Len fixed up. But that was just this time. What about the next time that something like this happened? Or the time after that?

What if there came a time when Mick wasn't fast enough to save Len?

No, forget the if. With Len living with his father, who was only finding more and more reasons to beat up on his kids, it wasn't a case of if things got too out of hand. It was definitely just a matter of when Lewis would finally lose it entirely and just push Len too far.

Mick was sure that it would happen someday, and they were just lucky that it hadn't been tonight. He absolutely hated that there was nothing that he could do to help. Len wouldn't let him do anything to his father, and Mick had been trying to convince him to move out for the past two years, to no avail. As long as Lisa still had to live with their father, Len would too.

But Lisa was only eight. She wouldn't be of age and legally able to live away from her father for another ten years. Mick was positive that Len wouldn't survive that long, and he hated that there wasn't anything he could do about. He had already tried everything he could think of, given Len every excuse as to why he should leave that house, and nothing worked. Mick had never felt so useless in all of his life. Not even when he had watched his family's farm house burn to the ground, with his family still inside it.

Mick, literally not able to think of anything else he could do, made the decision to follow Lisa's example. For the first time in his life, Mick found himself praying to a god that he didn't even believe in, because there was nothing else he could do.

And, really, what did he have to lose?


	3. Chapter 3

The early morning sunlight shone through the window in Mick's room, brightening it. Lisa, who had been fast asleep, groaned and tried to shy away from the light that had woken her up. Still half asleep Lisa rolled over so that she would be facing away from the light, but in doing so she somehow irritated the cut near her shoulder, causing it to flare up painfully for a brief moment.

Lisa cried out in pain and sat up with a jolt, now wide awake. She clutched at her shoulder, near where her wound was. Lisa clenched her teeth and waited for the pain to die down a bit. Once it did and she was able to focus on more than just the pain, Lisa realized with a start that she wasn't in her own room, or even Len's.

It took a moment for Lisa to remember everything that had happened the night before, and when she did a tight feeling of fear welled up in her chest. Lenny had gotten hurt, badly. This was far from the first time that Len had gotten hurt because of their father, but Lisa didn't remember any of the other times being so bad as this one. None of the other times had Len lost so much blood.

So, so much blood…

Lisa shuddered and began sobbing violently. She felt tears coming to her eyes, and she hated it. She didn't want to cry, she wanted to be strong. In an attempt to stifle her sobs and stop her tears from flowing Lisa grabbed the pillow and pressed it against her face.

Apparently this hadn't been such a good idea. It was hard to breath with a pillow blocking air from getting to her mouth and nose. And it wasn't too hard for Lisa to imagine, though she didn't want to, that somebody else was forcing the pillow to her face. Somebody who, despite how much she would fight and struggle, wouldn't let her go. They would just continue to suffocate her until…

Lisa gave a terrified shriek and threw the pillow as far away from her as possible. She leapt off the bed and dashed out of the room. She was scared, terrified, and just wanted to feel safe. Protected. Usually when Lisa was scared she would turn to her brother. Len always protected her from danger, whether they were real or just in her head.

But her brother wasn't here.

So Lisa settled for the closest thing. She ran into the kitchen and was relieved to see Mick there. She didn't stop or even slow down in the least bit. She just barreled straight into him and latched onto him as if her life depended on it.

"What the...Lisa?" Mick looked down at her, his eyes kinda shocked. "What are you doing?" Lisa shook her head and whimpered. She didn't want to explain that she was looking for a sense of security from him, because, well, she was afraid he would refuse her. She felt Mick try to pull away from her, so she tightened her grip on him. She didn't want him to leave her.

But Mick was stronger than she was. Forcefully, yet surprisingly gently, Mick made Lisa loosen her grasp. Instead of running off or getting angry though, Mick did something that she hadn't expected at all. He knelt on the ground so he was at her height level. Though it wasn't obvious, Lisa could see a look of concern in his eyes.

"Kiddo, what's wrong with you?" Mick asked in his usual gruff voice. Anybody else might be put off by the non-comforting tone, but Lisa appreciated it. Mick's voice, especially when it was all rough and unsure like this, was something that felt very familiar to her.

Lisa wasn't sure how to answer his question. What was wrong with her? A lot of things were bothering her. Finally Lisa just said four words that basically summed up everything she was feeling.

"I w-want my brother!" Lisa sobbed and threw her arms around Mick's neck. She expected him to get all awkward about the contact but, once again, Mick surprised her by wrapping his own arms around her body and holding her tight.

"I know, Lise. I know." Mick said, as if he felt the same way as she did. "But remember what I told you yesterday? He'll be fine before you know it, right?"

Lisa nodded, though she wasn't so sure how she felt about that. Yes, of course she wanted Len to be okay. She wanted him to come home and protect her from all of her fears and worries. She wanted her brother and guardian back with her, but it wasn't the only thing that she wanted.

Lisa also wanted Len to be safe, but by now she had learned that that just wasn't possible when he was at home, with her. Whenever Len tried to protect her from any real danger, he was the one who ended up getting hurt. The only times when Lisa knew for sure that Len was safe was when he stayed the night at Mick's place. On the nights when he did that though, Lisa was stuck with dealing with her fears by herself, and it was terrifying.

So she could either have Lenny around to protect her, or she could let him be safe. She couldn't have both.

"C'mon, don't start crying like this." Mick said as he pulled back slightly from Lisa and brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. "You'll be able to see you brother soon."

Lisa perked up slightly. "Are we going to go see Lenny at the hospital now?" She asked eagerly.

"I said soon." Mick repeated and stood up. "Len'll kill me if I don't get you some food before we go."

Lisa pouted. She didn't want to eat breakfast, she wanted to see her brother. She wasn't even hungry...alright, that was a lie. She was a little hungry. She hadn't eaten anything since last night, and it had only been half a sandwich. Huh, maybe breakfast wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"...Fine." Lisa grumbled. She noticed that up on the counter it actually looked like Mick had already started making something. "What's for breakfast?" She asked. Mick smirked and stood up.

"Blueberry pancakes." He said. Lisa smiled slightly when she heard that. She liked pancakes. She had never had them with blueberries before, but according to Len they were really good. Especially when Mick made them.

Lisa sat at the table and waited as Mick finished making the pancake batter. Once it was mixed Mick got out a pan and began actually cooking the pancakes. While they waited for the pancakes to cook Mick unbraided Lisa's hair (which had miraculously stayed in its braids during the night, despite the lack of ponytail holders.). With each braid he undid Mick brushed his fingers through the strands to make it look more natural. By the time he, and the pancakes, were done Lisa's hair was all wavy, and she loved it.

"So cool!" Lisa gushed as she ran her own fingers through her hair to feel the curl to it. If there was one thing Lisa liked, it was looking pretty. It always caused Lisa frustration that she couldn't quite figure out how to do her hair in a way to make it look good. Len said it was just because she was still young, and she would get better as she got older. But Lisa wanted to look good now, not just when she was older. So countless times she had tried, and failed, to find ways to do her hair to make it look nice.

And then Mick, who was the most boyish boy that Lisa knew, just came by, did some easy braids, and poof! Her hair looked pretty. Lisa was truly impressed, and she let him know it. "Micky, you're amazing."

"Yeah, whatever." Mick scowled, but Lisa could see that he was secretly pleased with himself. He set a plate of blueberry pancakes in front of her. "Just eat your damn food." He turned his back to her and went back to the stove to cook his own pancakes, which he would probably make so dark that they would be nearly burned, because that was the way that he liked them.

Lisa smiled to herself and began eating. She knew that Mick was just acting all grumpy because he was embarrassed, that was all. After finishing her first bite Lisa's eyes widened and she looked at her plate in wonder. Len was right. These were really good. Lisa all but shoveled down the rest of it.

"Geeze, kid, are you starving yourself at home or something?" Mick asked as he sat down across from her. It was strange. His question sounded like it should be a joke, but Mick seemed completely serious.

"No." Lisa tilted her head at him. "It's just good."

"Oh, that's good." Mick sounded slightly relieved, as if he really had been worried that Lisa was starving at home.

"Why are you asking?" Lisa asked. Mick knew that she got plenty of food at home, so why would he be worried about something like that? Mick furrowed his brow, probably deciding whether he should tell her or not. Finally he sighed and began to explain.

"You ever notice that Len doesn't really eat that much?" Mick asked.

"Of course." Lisa said. How could she not notice it? Len regularly skipped meals, and whenever he did eat Lisa was always under the impression that it was only because he was already making the food for Lisa, so he might as well have some too. "Do...do you think that Len starves himself?"

Mick shrugged, but Lisa knew that he meant 'yes'.

"Why would Len do that?" Lisa asked, horrified. A realization came to her suddenly. "Is it because of him getting really sad sometimes?" She had heard of people not being hungry anymore when they were upset. Was that what was going on with Len?

"Nah, I don't think so." Mick waved away the idea. "It's just the way that Len is. I've asked him about it and he says that he just normally isn't in the mood for eating food."

"Is he ever in the mood for eating?" Lisa asked rhetorically.

"Uh, yeah." Mick frowned and Lisa looked at him in shock. She hadn't really expected an answer. "For some reason Len gets really hungry and craves food whenever he gets really moody and depressed."

Lisa frowned. She hadn't known that. "How often does it happen?" She asked, because to her knowledge Len could get really upset ('depressed' was the word) sometimes, but it didn't happen too often. And yet Mick made it seem like it was a regular occurrence.

Mick shrugged. "Every few weeks or so. It usually lasts a day or two." He saw Lisa's shocked expression and explained. "He's been trying really hard to hide it from you. He doesn't want you to worry about him."

Lisa crossed her arms and hugged herself, her stomach twisting up in knots. Of course Len didn't want her to worry about him, but she couldn't help it. Len was her brother, that meant that she had to worry about him, just like she knew he worried about her. It was part of what being siblings meant. The only difference was that Len was able to help Lisa when she needed it. Lisa on the other hand couldn't even recognize when her brother needed help, and even if she did there wasn't much she could do for him.

"...And now you're worried about him anyways." Mick groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, kid, Len's fine. We're handling it. You don't have to get all mopey about it."

"I'm not mopey." Lisa mumbled. "Can we just go see Len already?"

"In a minute." Mick said.

"What now?" Lisa whined. She half believed that Mick was just being a big jerk and was keeping her from her brother on purpose.

"I'm not taking you while you're wearing that." Mick gestured to the too big shirt that Lisa was wearing. "Your pajamas should be dry by now, you can wear those."

"Oh, right." Lisa blushed slightly. She had almost forgotten that she was wearing Mick's shirt. Yeah, that wasn't something that she wanted to be seen in in public. Her own pajamas would be an improvement, even if just slightly. Yeah, they were still pajamas, but at least they would fit her properly. And that was one of the great perks of still being a kid. You could go out wearing the most ridiculous thing and nobody would bat an eye at you because that was just something that kids did.

Once Lisa was back in her own clothes Mick finally, finally, said they could go. Lisa could hardly sit still during the drive back to the hospital. She was anxious to see how her brother was doing, and a little worried about just how bad his condition was.

When they got to Pines View Hospital Mick left Lisa sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room while he went to talk to a doctor or something. Lisa huffed and crossed her arms, kicking her feet in irritation. She had come here to see her brother, not to just do even more waiting.

Fortunately she didn't have to wait for very long. Only a minute or two passed before she could hear Mick yelling about something. For a brief second Lisa grew scared, because the doctor must've told Mick something bad to get him angry so quickly. A moment later Mick came storming back into the waiting room. He grabbed Lisa's hand and dragged her toward another area of the hospital, despite the protests of the workers.

"What happened?" Lisa asked, trying to keep the anxiety that she was feeling from showing in her voice.

"The doctors here are a buncha idiots." Mick seethed. "Len woke up a few hours ago, and nobody thought to tell us about it."

"What? Why would they do that?" Lisa asked, her nervousness replaced by irritation.

"Because they're idiots." Mick repeated. "The guy I talked to said that they didn't want to tell us because they knew that we would come see him, and they thought that us being here would just get Len excited, which is not what they want."

"Why not?" Lisa asked curiously.

"Because he's still weak and they wanted him to rest for a bit first." Mick explained. "The only problem with that is that there's no way that Len would be able to relax if he woke up in a hospital and nobody here could tell him where you were or even if you were okay."

Oh man, Mick was right. The doctors here were idiots. Len was probably frantic with worry by now, which was the opposite of the rest that he needed. Shouldn't the doctors have realized that the quickest way to get Len to calm down was to let her visit him? To show him that she was okay?

Well...mostly okay, Lisa was reminded when Mick pulled on her arm just a little too tightly, causing her cut to hurt for a moment. Man, Len was going to flip out when he found out that she had gotten hurt.

When they got to the room that Len was in Lisa could hear arguing coming from inside. She smirked slightly to herself. It was probably just Len being his usual difficult self. Upon opening the door and entering the room Lisa's suspicions were confirmed. There was Len, sitting up in his bed and arguing with a doctor or nurse or something (Lisa wasn't exactly sure what the difference between them was) about how he was not resting.

Lisa sniffled and felt tears come to her eyes. These were tears of joy though. Len looked paler than he usually did, and he had bruises and scratches all over, but he was alive, and acting like his normal self, and Lisa couldn't be happier.

"Lenny!" Lisa cried out as she ran to her brother. Len's eyes widened and he looked at her in shock, as if he could hardly believe that she was there.

"...Lisa?" Len questioned quietly. He smiled slightly. "You're okay." Ignoring the doctor' protests the two siblings embraced, both of them overwhelmed at the joy of seeing the other was alright.

"Be careful, Lisa." Mick warned. "Len's still hurt, remember?"

"I'm fine." Len tightened the embrace as if to prove his point. A moment later he pulled away so he could look Lisa in the eyes. "What about you? Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Lisa opened her mouth to answer with some lie or another, but stopped herself. She couldn't bring herself to lie to him. Len saw the hesitation in her eyes and his own darkened with a cold fury.

"What did he do?" Len asked harshly. Lisa bit her lip and looked away. Len turned his hard glare towards Mick, who shrugged and gestured near his own shoulder, indicating where Lisa had been injured. Len gently grabbed Lisa's shirt and brushed the cloth out of the way so that he could look. Len's breath hitched when he saw the gauze bandage. His hand hovered tentatively over it for a moment before he ever so gently undid the tape that was keeping the pad in place.

When Len saw the cut near Lisa's shoulder a wave of emotions seemed to come over him. His hand, which was now resting on her shoulder, began shaking. Len's grip on her shoulder until he was practically squeezing it, which hurt a little bit. Lisa flinched ever so slightly, but Len still felt it. He immediately drew his hand back and froze.

"...Lenny." Lisa reached back out to him, but Len drew back.

"I'm so sorry." Len muttered sorrowfully.

"Lenny, no." Lisa insisted.

"Don't you dare blame yourself." Mick cut in with a growl, a furious look in his eyes. "It's not your fault that Lewis is a bastard."

Len looked like he couldn't disagree more, but he didn't say anything. For whatever reason he decided to keep his opinion to himself. Len just clenched his fists and looked away from them, refusing to make eye contact. It was obvious that he was filled with guilt, even though none of this was his fault.

Lisa sniffled and leaned over so her head was resting against Len's shoulder. It was a little awkward to do this while sitting next to the bed, but Lisa barely noticed any discomfort. She knew that Len needed this. As much as Len hated it, physical contact, especially from Lisa or Mick, did wonders to calm him from whatever anxiety or stress he was feeling.

And, though Lisa didn't much want to admit it, she needed the closeness to her brother almost as much as he needed it with her.

Lisa took Len's arm and wrapped it around her shoulder. Len's touch was hesitant at first, but eventually he began to slowly stroke Lisa's hair. She smiled sadly when she first felt it. At least he wasn't worried about hurting her. Sadly though, Len still blamed himself for what had happened, and if he wasn't then he was at least blaming himself for something. Lisa knew that he was because she could hear him muttering the same two words to himself over and over again.

"I'm sorry."

The minutes passed and Lisa found that she was having a difficult time keeping her eyes open. She hadn't gotten all that much sleep the night before, and she was still tired. Lisa wasn't much in the mood for sleeping, but she did decide that it might be good to rest her eyes for a minute. A short time later Len, who must have thought that she was actually asleep, began talking to Mick. Lisa, who was only half asleep, listened in without their knowledge.

"You watched over Lisa last night." Len said quietly, though it sounded like he was trying to sound like his usual bored, cold self. As if whatever he was talking about was something that he was indifferent towards. "You didn't have to do that."

"No, I kinda did. It's not like anybody else was going to." Mick brought another chair over to the side of Len's bed and sat down. He then asked a question that Lisa was honestly wondering the answer to as well. "Any idea when they'll let you out of this place?"

Len sighed. "The doctors said it wouldn't be for a couple of weeks."

"Weeks, huh?" Mick said, his tone suggesting that he had expected as much. "I guess I'll have to get some stuff if I'm going to be watching Lisa for that long."

"What...no." Len said, his voice slipping from his 'I'm in charge' voice that he had been trying to keep up. "I can't ask you to do that."

"You didn't." Mick pointed out. "I volunteered. Actually, I'm insisting. You're the one who's always telling me that Lisa needs somebody to watch over her, and since you won't be able to for a while, I will. Unless you think you have a better idea."

Len huffed and, though Lisa couldn't see it, she just knew that he was glaring at Mick. The glare didn't have any real malice in it though because, as much as Len hated it, Mick was right.

"Yeah, I didn't think so." Mick snorted when Len only answered him with silence. "Don't worry so much. I can handle Lisa."

"You can barely handle yourself." Len said harshly and coldly.

"Look, if I was able to keep your sorry ass alive in juvie six years ago, I sure as hell can keep an eye on Lisa for a few weeks." Mick said. "Just...don't worry about her, okay? I got this. All you need to worry about is getting better."

Len huffed and, even though Lisa couldn't see him, she just knew that he had rolled his eyes. For some reason Len seemed to think that his own safety and well-being wasn't worth worrying about. That was why both Lisa and Mick worried so much about Len, to make up for the fact that he couldn't care less about himself.

"You know I can't just stop worrying about Lisa. She's my sister. It's my job to worry about her." Len ran his hand through Lisa's hair. "How...how much did he hurt her?"

"Not too badly. She seemed mostly scared to me." Mick paused for a minute before continuing. "Her cut will probably end up scaring though"

Len took in a shuddered breath and Lisa could feel a slight shaking in his hands. "Mine too."

"Another scar?" Mick winced sympathetically and Lisa felt a chill come over her. Another? Meaning that Len had other scars? Lisa supposed that she should have guessed as much, but she hadn't known about any scars. Just how much pain was Len hiding from her?

"Yes." Len growled, a slight trace of shame in his voice.

"You know, I still think you should just get tattoos if you hate your scars that much." Mick said, his tone suggesting that he and Len had talked about this multiple times already, and the discussion have obviously not gone anywhere.

"I keep telling you, Mick, tattoos would just be a waste of money." Len said exasperatedly. "They won't erase anything, and somebody would probably be able to see and feel the scars under them. I would still be marked."

"Well, yeah, but at least you would be marked in a way that you choose." Mick pointed out. "Who knows? It might help. Actually make it so that you would actually be willing to look in a mirror for once."

Len sighed. "I'll think about it." Lisa and Mick both knew Len well enough to know that that meant little more than a straight out 'no'. Still, Mick seemed satisfied with the response, because at least this answer wasn't as definite. Len still might potentially change his mind.

Len and Mick continued talking about different things. Lisa didn't pay much attention to what they were saying. Something about an upcoming heist or something that Len was planning, nothing that Lisa was all that interested in. The two of them talked for a while until the doctor, who Lisa hadn't even noticed had left the room, came back in, and he was beyond exasperated.

"Alright, enough is enough." The doctor said sternly. He turned to Mick. "I let you in here because Leonard refused to cooperate with us until he saw the two of you. Now I must insist that you leave now. He needs rest."

"I don't-" Len began to argue, but Lisa wasn't going to let him.

"No, Lenny." Lisa yawned and sat up. She looked her brother in the eyes. "You need to do what the doctor says or you won't get better." She turned to Mick. "Right?"

"She's got a point." Mick smirked. Len scowled at the two of them. He hated being told what to do, even if he knew that they were right. "Come on, Lise, let's get out of here."

"What...where are you going?" Len asked. His eyes were wide and Lisa was surprised to see a look of pain flash in them.

"Geez, Len, I'm just taking Lisa out for a few hours so you can get some rest." Mick rolled his eyes. "You don't expect us to wait around here for you, do you?"

A red tint came over Len's cheeks as he blushed either from embarrassment or shame. He looked away from them. Mick's expression softened slightly.

"We'll be back in a few hours, Lenny." Mick said, his tone uncharacteristically gentle. "Think you can trust me with Lisa for that long?"

Len sighed and lifted his gaze to meet Mick's. "I do trust you." He said earnestly. Mick grinned. It wasn't very often that Len said something like that to him, or anybody.

"Great." Mick put his hand on Len's shoulder. "At least try to get some sleep or something while we're gone, okay?"

Len rolled his eyes but nodded. Lisa embraced her brother one more time before taking Mick's hand and heading out. As they were walking down the hallway she looked up at Mick and asked. "Where are we going."

"Shopping." Mick said shortly. "If you're going to be staying with me for a few weeks you should probably have something more to wear than your pajamas and my shirts."

Lisa bit her lip in excitement. They were going clothes shopping? That was awesome! Still, Lisa knew that Len wouldn't be happy about Mick spending his own money on Lisa. "I already have clothes at home." Lisa reminded Mick, even if many of the clothes that she did own were starting to get too small.

"Yeah, and there's no way in hell I'm taking you back there so soon." Mick growled. Lisa shuddered slightly, immediately relieved. She wasn't exactly looking forward to when she did have to eventually go home.

"Len won't be very happy about this." Lisa commented. Len was, as Mick liked to call him, 'a stubborn bastard'. He hated accepting help from anybody. Whether because he didn't want to be seen as weak, or he didn't want to feel indebted to anybody, Lisa didn't know. But it was really annoying.

"I know." Mick smirked. "Why do you think I didn't tell him where we were going?"

Lisa grinned mischievously. She always loved it when Mick went behind Len's back like this. Lisa loved her brother, but he could be way too high strung. Mick on the other hand, well, he was a fun time. Sometimes he got a little (a lot) out of control and Len had to step up and rein him in, but Lisa doubted this would be one of those times. They were just going shopping, after all, and even Mick couldn't screw that up.

Once they were in the car Mick turned to Lisa. "So, any preference on where to go?" He asked.

"The mall." Lisa said immediately. Shopping for clothes was hard enough as it was, doing it all at just a single store though? That was nearly impossible. Lisa and Len both prefered the variety in style and prices that came at the mall. True, stuff at the mall could get really expensive sometimes, but Len had taught Lisa well on the art of looking for a good deal. And, if worst came to worst, they could always just resort to stealing a few items. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Glad you sound like you know what you're doing." Mick commented as he started the car. "Because I don't."

Lisa had expected as much, and she was just fine with taking the lead on this one. Actually, she was thrilled about it. When they got to the mall Lisa practically dragged Mick to one of her favorite clothing stores. It had cute clothes for kids, and the price was almost always fair. She browsed around a bit, finding many items that she would like, made a note of some of her favorites, and then left the store without buying anything.

This was another reason that Len usually took Lisa to the mall when either of them needed more clothes, because the shops were much closer together. Len had a strategy whenever he went shopping for anything. He would go to a couple of different stores to browse and make note of what they had, and then when he knew what all of the options were he would go back and buy just the best of the best from the multiple shops.

This process made things take longer, but Lisa didn't complain much about it. Except, of course, when she was stuck going grocery shopping with Len, which always took forever. Lisa never minded the time that it took to buy clothes, but for food? Forget about it.

Lisa was so used to her brother's perfectionist, control freak ways that it was basically normal to her. She had forgotten though that not everybody did things the way that Len did. By the time Lisa was looking around their third store she had noticed that Mick was getting visibly irritated.

Lisa felt slightly guilty. She hadn't meant to get carried away with this. She should have known that Mick didn't do things the same way as Len did. Mick was probably the type of guy who bought clothes only when the stuff that he owned was falling apart, and even then he would just get the first stuff he saw because Mick really couldn't care less about how he looked.

To Lisa and Len though, image was everything.

Lisa decided to cut Mick some slack and just get things from what options she had seen from these three stores, rather than from the five or six that she was used to. It was a good thing that Lisa already had a pretty good idea of what she wanted. She grabbed what she had decided on from this store, and, after purchasing her things, went back to the first two stores to get the stuff she had chosen from there.

In the end Lisa got only a couple of shirts, some pants, a few skirts, and a new pair of tennis shoes. Mick looked relieved when she finally came out of the last store with all of her things. He was probably overjoyed that she was finished.

"It's about time." Mick grumbled. "I don't think I even have to guess where you got that stupid shopping habit from."

Lisa smiled and took Mick's hand. "How about we go get some food?" Lisa suggested. It was about lunch time, and Lisa knew that Mick got really grumpy when he was hungry. He would be in a better mood after getting some food in his stomach.

"Now that is something I understand." Mick agreed. The two of them went to the food court area of the mall where Mick insisted that he will get them food, and Lisa will find them a seat. Lisa rolled her eyes and huffed a bit, but did as he said. Mick was probably just trying to avoid going through what Lisa had done with the clothes shopping all over again.

A few minutes later Mick returned with the food. It was all the greasy fast food stuff that Lisa and Mick loved and Len tolerated. Mick, ever the spontaneous guy who didn't like making choices, had, from the looks of it, gotten a little bit of a lot of stuff. There was so much food that Lisa was sure that the two of them alone wouldn't be able to eat it all, even with the amount that Mick was able to eat. Still, she did like the variety.

While they ate Mick casually asked how Lisa's ice skating was going, which got her going on and on about the different jobs and spins they were beginning to learn now that her class had mastered the basics. Within a few minutes Lisa began talking about an upcoming ice skating camp that would be happening in a couple of weeks. The camp was an annual thing, but this was the first year that Lisa was able to go, and she couldn't wait for it.

Lisa was so excited about talking about her skating camp that she failed to notice that Mick was a little less than excited about it. She didn't see the concerned expression come across his face when she started talking about the camp. And, even if she had, Lisa wouldn't have had any idea what the concern was for.

Some time later, when Mick and Lisa had both eaten their fill, there was still plenty of food left. Lisa just had to laugh at just how much they had gotten. Mick grinned and revealed that he had snatched some take out boxes from the chinese food place. Not being the type of person who wasted food, Mick put all of the extra food in the boxes as leftovers.

"Are we going now?" Lisa asked as she watched Mick try to shove all of the clothes from one of her bags into the other two so that he could have a place to put the food.

"Not quite." Mick said. "I think we have time for just one more store. But-" He held up his hand before Lisa could get too excited. "We're just going to one, and I'm not promising to buy anything there."

"I know." Lisa said. Still, she was looking forward to this. Like almost every other kid Lisa liked playing with toys, and even seeing what kinds of toys and kids stuff that stores were selling was fun. Lisa dragged Mick to the mall's nearest toy store so she could do just that.

There were many children and a couple of adults already at the toy store. It was a little too crowded for Lisa's tastes, and some of the kids were being way too loud and playing way too roughly with things that didn't even belong to them, but that was something she just had to deal with.

Lisa immediately made her way to the stuffed animal section of the store. She enjoyed other toys, but stuffed animals were most definitely her favorite. They were soft, adorable, nowhere near as breakable, and much easier to fix when they did fall apart.

"Ya know, I never really got what the point of these things were." Mick commented as he looked at all of the plush toys.

"Their point is to be soft." Lisa said as she picked up a particularly fluffy bear and squeezed it.

"What's the fun in that?" Mick grunted and scowled at all of the stuffed animals, as if their cuteness was offending him somehow.

"Um, they're good for hugging." Lisa suggested, naming the main reason that she loved them. Mick raised an eyebrow at her.

"Seriously?" He asked. Lisa nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, they're perfect for cuddling." Lisa said as she hugged the bear she was holding tighter. "And they don't flinch or try to get away." Unlike some obnoxious older boys that she knew.

"You like them because they're huggable?" Mick clarified, though he still seemed to disbelieve it.

"Pretty much." Lisa shrugged. There was more to it than that, but cuddling was the most basic explanation, and Lisa knew from experience that when it came to dealing with Mick, basic was usually the best option.

"That's weird." Mick said, his tone not really insulting, but like he was just stating a fact. He took another look at the stuffed animals before turning back to Lisa. "So, uh, do you have any of these things?"

Lisa frowned and looked down. "Not really." She tightened her grip on the bear even more. "Dad doesn't really…"

"Right, got it." Mick scowled, the anger in his eyes clear. He always got like this whenever Lisa or Len mentioned anything that their dad did that Mick didn't like. He took a deep breath to calm down. "Well, do you want one?"

"Wait, really?" Lisa perked up and looked and Mick with wide eyes.

"Sure, why not?" Mick smirked slightly. Lisa squealed and hugged Mick in gratitude. Mick, who really wasn't the hugger type, squirmed uncomfortably and gently shoved Lisa away.

"How about you find a stuffed thing to do that to instead?" Mick suggested. "Unless you're just going to go for the bear."

Lisa shook her head and put the bear that she had been holding this entire time back on the shelf. She liked it, but if Mick was going to be letting her get a stuffed animal, it had to be something that she absolutely loved.

Lisa looked around at all of the stuffed animals before her and suddenly found herself feeling overwhelmed. There were just so many. Lots of them were just the right size for snuggling with, and even more of them were just so soft. There were all kinds of different animals, and she liked all of them. How could she pick just one?

"Hey, kiddo." Mick said to get Lisa's attention. "I don't wanna be here forever. This one good enough for you?" Mick held out a stuffed animal that he had found, and Lisa immediately found herself falling in love with it.

"She's beautiful." Lisa took the stuffed toy in her own hands and hugged it close. It was a cute stuffed penguin with baby blue fur. It was very soft and about the size of an average teddy bear, which, in Lisa's opinion, was the perfect size for cuddling with. Best of all the penguin came with a cheap but pretty golden snowflake necklace.

"You like her then?" Mick asked, though his amused expression showed that he already knew she did.

"I love her." Lisa exclaimed. "But, uh," She looked around at other stuffed animals. "Can we get another?"

"What do you need two for?" Mick raised and eyebrow.

"I don't." Lisa rolled her eyes and didn't mention that some kids had so much more than just two stuffed animals. "I meant one for Lenny."

"You want to get a stuffed animal for your brother?" Mick asked, his tone showing just how confused he was.

"Well, yeah." Lisa said as she picked up a stuffed polar bear that was the same size as her penguin. "Lenny should have something to cuddle with too." Lisa didn't mention that there had been a few nights when she had caught an upset Len hugging at his pillow like some would a stuffed animal. Lisa herself did this sometimes, and always wished that she had a stuffed animal to snuggle with instead. If she thought that a stuffed animal would make things better, then Len would too.

"Your brother's not much of a cuddler." Mick pointed out.

"No, he's not much of a toucher." Lisa corrected. "Len doesn't like being touched by people, but a fluffy polar bear isn't people. Everybody likes cuddling sometimes."

"If you say so." Mick scratched at his head, and Lisa could tell that she was confusing him a bit with her stuffed animal knowledge.

"I do say so." Lisa nodded. She saw one more stuffed animal on the shelf and grabbed at it. "We need this one too." She showed Mick arctic wolf, which was about half the size as the penguin and polar bear.

"What's that one for?" Mick crossed his arms.

"You." Lisa said plainly, which threw Mick off. "If me and Len get stuffed animals than you need one too." It wasn't much of an argument, but Lisa looked at Mick with wide, pleading eyes, and she knew that he wouldn't be able to say no to her. Despite his rough attitude, Mick was actually a big softy and he would do anything to make Len or Lisa happy.

"You're a real spoiled brat, you know that?" Mick growled, though his words had no real malice in them.

"I know." Lisa said matter of factly. In the end Mick did end up buying all three of the stuffed animals, just like Lisa knew that he would.

"Ready to go back and see your brother?" Mick asked as they headed back out to the car.

"Yes." Lisa nodded enthusiastically as she snuggled with the stuffed animals in her arms. "Will they let us though?

"We've given them a few hours to get Len to relax or whatever, and that's all they said he needed." Mick reminded her. "If they don't let us see Len, we'll just march right in and see him anyway." Lisa grinned. That sounded like a good plan to her.

Instead of sitting in the front seat next to Mick like she had been doing, Lisa climbed into the back. Now that she had actual clothes to wear, not to mention shoes, there was no reason for her to still be in her pajamas. So while Mick drove Lisa changed her clothes.

When they got to the hospital it was obvious that the doctor people weren't happy that they were back so soon, but they said nothing about it. Lisa guessed it was just because this was a smaller hospital that was used to working with criminals, so they knew better than to mess with visitors.

Lisa ran straight into Len's room and was glad to see him awake again...wait, had he even slept at all? It was Len, so Lisa would think no, he hadn't. But if that were the case then the doctors would still be getting on his case about it, so, yeah, Len had probably gotten some rest, even if just a bit.

"Lenny, we're back!" Lisa cried out as she ran to her brother's side. Len smiled slightly when he saw her, but that smile quickly fell away when he saw her wearing a different outfit that he didn't recognize. Not to mention the three stuffed animals that she was still holding in her arms.

"What...Mick!" Len glared coldly at his friend who had entered behind Lisa. "What the hell did you take her shopping for?" Lisa flinched slightly. Len hardly ever swore unless he was really angry. Mick on the other hand didn't seem fazed at all about Mick's anger, even though almost any other person would freeze under Len's icy gaze.

"Don't go getting mad at me, it had to happen." Mick said. "Lisa had nothing else to wear except her pajamas, so unless you wanted me to take her back to your place, where your dad might still be…" Len paled slightly at the mere suggestion and Mick, realizing her may have gone too far, stopped talking.

"Don't be mad at him, Lenny." Lisa pleaded to her brother. "We got you a friend." She shoved the stuffed polar bear into Len's hands, and he blinked in surprise at the soft plushie.

"What is this?" Len asked, his cold eyes returning to Mick who shrugged.

"She conned me into getting it." Mick said.

"I did not." Lisa scowled in Mick's direction. She turned back to her brother. "It's a polar bear."

"I can see that." Len said in a patronizing tone, which Lisa hated. "I meant why did you get it?"

"For you." Lisa said as if it were obvious, because, to her, it was. "This one's mine." She held up the penguin for him to see. "And this is Mick's." She showed the small wolf plushie to Len before throwing her back to Mick who caught it sheepishly.

Len sighed in the way that he always did whenever he was about to say no to her. "Lisa, we don't need these."

Yes, they did! Just because Mick and Len couldn't see the usefulness of stuffed animals didn't mean that they were any less necessary. "But Len, we have to keep them." Lisa whined. "They already have names."

Mick and Len both looked at Lisa in surprise. "You already named them?" Mick asked what the two of them were thinking.

"Yeah. This is Boreo." Lisa petted Len's polar bear's head. "She's Aurora." Lisa held up her own penguin. "And that's Alice." She pointed behind her toward Mick and his small arctic wolf.

Len immediately laughed out when he heard the names, which made Lisa smile. She knew that he would like that. "Aurora, Boreo and Alice?" Len shook his head with a chuckle.

"Wait a sec'," Mick's eyes were full of confusion still. "Ain't that the sciency name for the Northern Lights or something?"

"That's what I named them after." Lisa nodded, impressed that Mick had known that. He was by no means an idiot, but Mick didn't really bother remembering things that he didn't really care about.

Mick shook his head and snorted. "I swear, only you two would do something like this." He looked at Len and raised his eyebrow. "She gets her nerdiness from you, you know."

"Well, she certainly didn't get it from you." Len said, a slight tone of teasing in his voice. Lisa grinned and hugged Aurora. She had successfully gotten Len to at least temporarily forget his anger towards Mick. And, chances were Len would let them keep the stuffed animals. He would grumble and complain about it, sure, but would eventually give in.

Lisa and Mick were allowed to stay for the rest of the day without anybody coming in and bugging them about it. It wasn't until a few hours later did a doctor with actual guts come in and say that visiting hours were over and they had to leave. Lisa and Mick weren't very happy about that, but there wasn't much they could do about it. There were some things that Mick could intimidate the doctors about, and some things that just weren't worth it. Protesting against visiting hours would definitely have been pointless.

"We'll come back tomorrow" Mick said, his tone suggesting that they would be doing so whether Len liked it or not.

"Of course you are." Len's own tone suggested that he was annoyed, but both Lisa and Mick knew him well enough to know that he was glad that they would be coming back. Len bit his lip slightly and looked Mick in the eyes. "Are you sure you're fine with watching Lisa?" There was hesitancy in his voice that Len usually wouldn't ever let show.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Mick assured him. "You know me. I wouldn't have said I would if I wasn't."

"Yeah, I know." Len sighed a slightly shuddered breath.

"You gonna be okay here by yourself?" Mick asked.

"He won't be by himself." Lisa disagreed. "He has Boreo with him." This was what she had gotten the stuffed polar bear for. So that Len could have somebody with him when he would otherwise be all alone.

Len grinned slightly. "Exactly. I'll be fine."

"If you say so." Mick shrugged and took Lisa's hand to bring her out.

"Take care of Lisa." Len said just before they left the room. Mick looked over his shoulder to look Len in the eyes.

"Only if you take care of yourself." Mick said. Lisa knew that he didn't really mean it. Mick would keep an eye on her regardless of what Len did. Mick had just said that because if Len thought there was even the smallest possibility that Mick's caring for Lisa was conditional, he would do whatever Mick wanted him to.

Even if it meant taking care of himself.

It seemed like such a simple request, but not to Len. Lisa knew her brother well, and she knew that he didn't really care about what happened to himself at all. The only times that Len bothered to be concerned about his own well being was if Lisa's safety or happiness counted on it.

It was messed up, but that's just the way that Lenny was.

At times like this though, Lisa wished more than anything that it wasn't.


	4. Chapter 4

In the past Mick had been hesitant to be around Lisa at all, especially if it was without Len around. It wasn't that he didn't like the little girl, because how could he not? No, Mick just never knew what he should and shouldn't do around her.

After having Lisa stay with him for a couple of weeks though, Mick was practically cured of being uncomfortable around her. It wasn't like he had to be afraid of corrupting her innocent little spirit, because her father (the bastard) had already introduced her to some of the darker aspects of the world.

Taking care of her was also easier than Mick had expected it to be. Turns out that his combined knowledge from having younger sisters and being around Len was more than enough to take care of little Lisa. No, keeping the girl happy and safe was more than easy.

Len on the other hand…

Mick frowned and took a drink of his special raspberry flavored hot chocolate. He had added more alcohol into the mix than he usually did, but he needed it. He had felt like he had needed this relief every night since Len had been released from the hospital.

After keeping him there for over two weeks the hospital finally said he could go, but he had to take things easy. It had taken some coaxing, and a little bit of blackmail, but Mick had convinced Len that he and Lisa should stay at his place for a while longer. Their father was still gone, so it's not like he would miss them anyways.

He had gotten so used to taking care of just Lisa that he had forgotten just how difficult Len could be at the best of times, and this certainly wasn't the best of times.

For the past week Mick had had to deal with Len constantly moping around, switching from being more sarcastic and snarky than usual to saying practically nothing at all. He had been acting coldly toward Mick the entire time, still having not forgiven him for taking the two of them in.

Mick had tried multiple times to convince Len to move in with him permanently, but Len wasn't hearing it. The two of them would argue with each other about it until Len, fed up, would storm out of the apartment and not return for an hour or two.

Tonight though, Len, for whatever reason, had taken it even a step further. It had been four hours since Len had left, and he still wasn't back yet. Mick didn't know whether to be worried or angry, so he settled with annoyed for now. Once he knew where Len had gone and just why it was taking so long, then he would decide how to truly feel about it.

Mick took another swig of his drink, but ended up spitting half of it out when he actually noticed the temperature of it. His hot chocolate was barely lukewarm, and that was not acceptable. The drink literally had 'hot' in the name. It wasn't supposed to be cool.

Grumbling and cursing Len under his breath Mick got up and poured his half full mug of hot chocolate back into the pain with the rest of it. Mick turned the stove on and waited impatiently for the stuff to heat up again. This was all Len's fault. If he had been here and not gone storming off like a child, Mick wouldn't have been so distracted by wondering where he had gone, and he would have finished his drink while it was still hot.

Just as the hot chocolate was once again reaching the correct temperature, Mick heard the front door open. He turned his eyes from the stove and looked at Len as he entered back into the apartment. The younger man looked exhausted and, though he didn't necessarily look emotional, there was a noticeable lack of the usual walls that Len put up around himself. Mick wondered what had happened to him, because there wasn't very much that could bring down Len's barriers.

Mick noticed offhandedly that Len had a small duffle bag slung over his shoulder. For a brief moment Mick thought that Len had just gotten back from a job or something, and that's why he had taken so long, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Mick had heard nothing of any plans for a heist, and Len was never the type to do things on the spur of the moment, no matter how upset he was.

Mick then saw that the bag had the initials L.S. on the side, in curvy, sparkly gold letters. There was only one person who that bag could belong to. Now the question was, why did Len have Lisa's bag? Last Mick had known it had still been back at the Snart house, and…

Wait.

Oh god.

Len was a freaking Idiot! A stupid idiot with a death wish or something.

"What the hell were you thinking? Going back there by yourself?" Mick growled, his fists clenched at his sides. Len had made some stupid decisions before, but Mick believed that this had to be the worst. "Something could have happened."

"Nothing would have happened." Leo snapped coldly. "I'm a grown man, Mick. I don't need a babysitter. Besides, the place was still empty, just as I had known it would be."

"Yeah? And how had you known that?" Mick crossed his arms.

"Because my father's not scheduled to be back until tomorrow." Len reasoned and Mick felt a fiery rage come over him. He stormed over to Len till he was standing in front of him, towering over him.

"You think that means anything?" Mick growled. "Your old man ain't a time obsessed freak like you are. What if he had decided to come home early?"

"He wouldn't have." Len scoffed as if the idea was ridiculous.

""You don't know that." Mick said, his anger building. He couldn't believe that Len was treating this whole thing like a joke. This was serious. Mick took another step towards Len who glared coldly at him and took a step back, because he hated it when people literally got all up in his face.

"You plan and you schedule, but you've never been very good at predicting people." Mick continued walking towards Len, who continued retreating back until he backed right into the door. "I can't count the number of times it's almost gotten you killed, and tonight it just might have." Another step forward brought the two of them face to face, glaring harshly at each other.

"I wouldn't have let it." Len scowled and pushed Mick away, but not by much. "I can take care of myself."

"That's bullshit!" Mick shouted and punched at the wall just inches from Len's face. Mick noticed the way that Len flinched ever so slightly and froze up. He knew he should feel bad about it, but at the moment, he didn't. He relished in the fear he saw in those sharp eyes. The moment ended quickly though when he noticed that Len's hand had instinctively gone to the door knob.

Len wanted to run away. From him.

Len was scared of him.

Mick lowered his hand and felt the anger seep right out of him. This isn't what he wanted. He had just wanted Len to understand things and not act like such an idiot. Despite what he had been trying to do though, Mick knew that he had definitely gone about it the wrong way. Trying to scare an idea into Len wouldn't make him listen to you, it just made him hate you.

"Lenny…" Mick wanted to reach out to Len, but he knew that that wouldn't be such a good idea. Len hated being touched at the best of times. When he was like this though? It was best to give him all the distance that he needed. To not threaten him at all.

Which was much easier said than done.

Mick backed up until he was far enough away from Len that he wouldn't be able to touch him. Mick also made sure that there was nothing in his reach that he could possibly grab and use as a weapon against Len. Not that he would, but whatever made Len feel safer at this point.

The two of them just stared at each other for a few tense moments, Len's hand still wrapped around the doorknob. Finally, after what felt like forever to Mick, Len slowly released his grip on the doorknob and stepped away from the door, but he still made sure to keep out of Mick's reach.

"Why did you go back to that place?" Mick asked again. "We both know that you wouldn't go there if you weren't one hundred percent sure that your dad wouldn't be there, and, despite what you say, I know that you weren't. So, what's the deal?"

"I had to pick up something." Len put down the dufflebag. Mick glanced at the bag and looked back up at Len.

"And what's so important about the bag?" Mick asked, not understanding at all.

"It's Lisa's skating bag." Len said. "Lisa is supposed to be heading off to skating camp in a few days, and she needed her stuff. With my father coming back tomorrow, this was my last chance to get it."

"You could have just told me. I would have gotten the stupid bag for you." Mick said exasperatedly. He would have much rather been the one to go to that stupid house, not Len.

"I know!" Len snapped harshly and glared at Mick who was stunned into silence. Sure, Len occasionally yelled, and he got angry just as often as the next person, but Len's anger was usually gradual. He didn't really snap at people out of nowhere very often, because he hated losing control of himself like that.

Len, already looking like he regretted losing his cool, sighed and looked at the ground. "I know." He repeated in a quieter, gentler tone. "But you didn't need to. I was able to do it by myself just fine."

Mick scoffed. "Yeah? Then why were you gone for so long?"

"I had other things that I needed to do." Len said coldly. Mick had a guess that one of these 'other things' was Len feeling like he had to clean up the house, considering the place had looked like a crime scene weeks ago and nobody had set foot in the house since then. Mick wasn't really mad at Len for doing this, because not only was Len the kind of guy who liked to have everything neat and in its place, but Lewis was the kind of guy who liked to beat up on people whenever they messed up in his eyes.

And Lewis all but thought that every breath that Len took was him screwing up something or other.

Mick still thought that it had been extremely stupid for Len to go back to his house like that, but he decided to drop the subject. He knew that if he kept bugging Len about it, it wouldn't end well at all, and the last thing that Mick wanted was for Len to storm out again.

Besides, there were more things that Mick wanted to know from Len.

"And what about that skating camp thing?" Mick sat down on the couch and rested his hands behind his head. "Are you crazy? Sending Lisa off to a place like that?"

"What are you talking about?" Len asked defensively, though Mick knew that Len knew exactly what he was talking about, and pretending that he didn't was just sad. Len was too smart a guy to play dumb like this.

"Money." Mick said plainly. "We both know that skating classes ain't cheap, and summer camp ain't cheap. I can't imagine how much worse the price for a skating camp is."

"It's not that bad." Len said, but when Mick raised an eyebrow at him he corrected himself. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"Yeah, like I've never heard that one before." Mick scoffed before becoming serious again. "You guys are struggling with money as it is, and I know that your dad ain't gonna do shit to help out. You're just hurting yourself with this, so why are you even doing it?"

"Because Lisa deserves it." Len said. "She loves ice skating more than anything, and if I can do something to make her happy, I will."

"It wouldn't make her happy if she knew that her gain was your loss." Mick pointed out, stunning Len into silence, for once. "And I'm not just talking about the camp either."

"What do you want me to do, Mick?" Len asked tiredly. He had a hand to the side of his head and he was massaging near his eye, which Mick recognized as a sign that Len was stressed out. "I can't just not keep Lisa safe from our father."

Well, at least Len had understood what Mick was saying. "I don't expect you to." Mick acknowledged that Len would never stop protecting Lisa from Lewis. "But you're smart, Len. I'm sure you can figure out a way to keep Lisa safe without getting yourself sent to the hospital every other week."

"You don't think I've tried?" Len glared at him coldly, his temper rising. "Believe it or not, I do not enjoy getting beat up by my father. And you know how I despise hospitals. But right now it's the only solution that I have, and it works, so I'll live with it."

"It does not work!" Mick growled. "If your plan works so well, then Lisa wouldn't have gotten hurt." Len flinched and Mick cursed himself for saying it like that. Mick groaned and pinched at the bridge of his nose. "Look, Len, you know I'm not saying it was your fault. You were unconscious because you dad stabbed you in the stomach. In no way is what happened to Lisa, or you, your fault. Got it?"

Len crossed his arms, though it looked more like he was hugging himself. He still didn't look convinced, but Mick wasn't sure how to go about persuading him, so he moved on with what he was saying.

"Anyways, your dad is a jackass, and no matter how much you care about Lisa, that fact ain't gonna change." Mick continued. "He comes up with every excuse to lay a hand on you, and more and more often he takes things a step too far. Things are getting serious, Len. Your dad's getting worse."

"I know." Len muttered. Of course he knew. Nobody would know more about his father's temper than Len.

"Then you know as much as I do that he's just going to get worse from here." Mick said. He looked Len in the eyes and continued. "Your old man is going to be the death of you one of these days."

"I know." Len said simply as if it were an unavoidable fact. Like he had resigned himself to his fate or something. Mick grew frustrated, and worried, because Len just admitted that he knew that his dad would end up killing him one of these days, and yet he acted like he didn't care at all. Mick was sure that it wasn't because Len didn't care about his life at all, but because of Lisa. It was likely that, while Len may not want to die, he would gladly do so if it meant protecting his little sister.

Mick was not so ready to accept something like that happening. He had to knock this martyrdom idea out of Len's head, and he believed that he had an idea on how he would do that. It was a low blow, sure, but Mick was sure that it would get the job done, and that's all that mattered.

"Len, for once you're not thinking things through." Mick said lowly. He already regretted the words that he was about to say, but they had to be spoken. "If you die, then there won't be anybody around to watch over Lisa at all."

Len froze and, for once, actually seemed to take Mick's words to heart. Mick could see the genuine fear in his eyes, not for himself, but for his younger sister. Len began shaking slightly and he hugged his arms tighter around himself.

Mick, hating to see Len like this, looked away. He forced himself to not feel bad about saying what had to be said. When Mick heard what sounded like a shuddering breath, almost like a sob, which was quickly muffled, he grew alarmed. It was a sound that he had grown familiar with years ago when they had been in juvie together. He hadn't heard it many times since, but Mick didn't think he would ever forget the sound of a distressed Leonard Snart.

Mick snapped his gaze up and looked in alarm at Len, who had one of his hands over his mouth in an attempt to stop his sob like breaths. Mick knew that that was what Len was doing, because he had done it all the time when they were younger. Mick just hadn't known that it was still something that Len did.

Mick tried to figure out what to do about the situation when he noticed that Len's eyes and cheeks seemed kinda wet, almost like...wait a second. Were those tears?!

Oh shit, Len was crying.

Mick got to his feet and, Len's personal space be damned, rushed to his friend's side. Neither Mick nor Len were very touchy feely kind of people, but there were occasional exceptions, and this was one of them. Mick wrapped his arms around Len and drew him tightly to his chest. He ignored Len's weak attempts to push himself away and just held him. Partially to provide physical comfort, and partially to restrain Len in case, in his upset state, he tried to do something that he would regret later.

Mick thought that this whole thing would feel awkward or weird, because it really wasn't like either of them. And yet, it felt completely natural. Just like it had six years ago in juvie when Len would get a panic attack when he thought about Lisa stuck in a house with Lewis. Or, on the rare occasion, when Mick would have a nightmare about his family's farm house burning to the ground, his family trapped inside, while he did nothing to stop it.

Mick had calmed Len down from his worry about Lisa. And, in return, Len had been there for him when the nightmares and memories of his family's suffering had threatened to overwhelm him. Mick and Len were partners, which meant that they had each others backs. Even through the not so good, embarrassing, and depressing things.

The two of them stayed like this for a few minutes. It took a while, but Len finally began to calm down. Even after he was no longer breaking down, Len still stayed in Mick's arms for a bit. Mick could feel that he was tense and uncomfortable, but at least he felt safe. After a while Len pulled away a bit and scrunched up his nose a bit.

"Is something burning?" Len frowned at Mick.

"Dammit." Mick swore. He had completely forgotten about his hot chocolate. He had left the stove on! Mick let go of Len and ran into the kitchen to turn off the stove. As much as Mick loved flames and watching things burn, he was not a fan of burned food, or hot chocolate. Not unless he made it like that on purpose.

Besides, Len wouldn't be happy with him at all if he got careless and set the apartment on fire because he forgot about the stupid stove.

"You forget about something?" Len's voice was just dripping with sarcasm and amusement. Mick growled at him. Half the time Len got angry with him for doing something stupid, and the other half of the time he would laugh his ass off about the whole thing. Mick wished that Len would just make up his damn mind already.

"Hot chocolate." Mick muttered as he poured his drink back in his mug. The stuff was way too hot, which he didn't really mind, and just a bit burned. Mick counted himself lucky that chocolate didn't really burn all that easily.

"Really?" All sound of amusement was gone from Len's voice, now replaced with curiosity and maybe a bit of hope. Len came up behind Mick and scowled at the type of hot chocolate that Mick had made.

"Don't make that face at me." Mick glared at Len. "I didn't make this stuff for you." He had made it for himself, to get his mind off the fact that Len had run out on him, again. "And before you ask, no, I'm not making any more."

Len frowned, no, he freakin' pouted, at Mick, who rolled his eyes. For such a serious guy, Len was sure a baby when it came to hot chocolate, or just sugar in general.

"If you want some that badly, just have some of mine." Mick gestured to the pan, which still had plenty of hot chocolate left in it. Len eyed it scrutinously and Mick smirked. Len liked his hot chocolate in a certain way, and Mick's favorite kind was not the way that Len liked it. However, Len knew that he wouldn't be getting hot chocolate unless he had it like this. Mick just loved messing with Len like this.

"Fine." Len muttered, clearly not happy. "You know technically I'm not allowed to have this stuff. I'm still a minor."

"Yeah, 'cause we care about what the law says." Mick snorted and Len smirked. Despite his displeasure about the flavor and alcohol and stuff, Len still accepted the mug that Mick offered to him. The two of them took their drinks and sat down on either end of the couch. Mick was glad that he had thought to get a longer couch because Len didn't sit, he sprawled. Len would turn to the side and lay his legs out across the couch, and Mick would prefer it if Len's feet weren't on him.

Mick drank his hot chocolate while Len just looked down at his. Mick didn't know if he wasn't drinking it because of the alcohol, or because it was too hot. Maybe both. The great thing about Len and his hot chocolate was that he didn't need to drink it to feel calmed by it. Hot chocolate was Len's ultimate comfort food. Even just holding a cup or mug of it in his hands did wonders to calm him down or cheer him up.

A few minutes later Mick had drained his own mug while Len still hadn't touched his drink. Mick put his cup on the floor and turned to Len. "What're you thinking about?"

Len looked up, startled. "What?"

"C'mon. I know you well enough by now to know what you look like when you're thinking hard about something." Mick said. Len sighed and looked back down at his hot drink.

"I'm thinking of what needs to be done." Len shook his head and looked very conflicted. Mick sat up straighter. It sounded as if Len had a plan, he just didn't like it.

"What's your plan?" Mick asked. Len took a deep breath and handed his now cooler drink to Mick. Len brought his legs closer to his body and leaned forward, a serious look in his eyes. He was in his business mode.

"You remember why I got sent to juvie in the first place?" Len asked in a low voice.

Mick scowled and crossed his arms. Of course he did. Len had been caught for trying to steal a valuable gem or something. Mick couldn't exactly remember what Len had been trying to steal (it was years ago, and Len stole a lot of things) but Mick did remember that he had only been trying to get it because his old man had told him to.

It was supposed to have been a simple gig. Get in, get out, done. Like all the other jobs he did, Len planned it down perfectly. It was a solo gig, so he hadn't thought that he would have to worry about anybody stabbing him in the back. Len had thought wrong.

His old man, the bastard, had ratted him out to the cops. The whole thing had been a set up, because Lewis had wanted to teach Len a lesson or something. It still made Mick's blood boil whenever he thought about it.

But Mick thought he knew where Len was going with this. After all, if Lewis was smart enough to set up Len for something, why couldn't Len do the same thing?

"You're gonna get him sent to prison?" Mick asked, just to make sure they were on the same page about this. Len smirked and Mick found himself already loving this plan. It was about time for some payback to happen. Sure Mick thought that death would be a more appropriate way to do it, but prison was a close second.

Mick was just confused about one thing. It sounded like a pretty good plan, and if Lewis could pull it off than Len certainly would be able to, no problem. And yet, Len seemed hesitant about it. Also, Len never shared his plans with Mick until after he was sure that he was going to go through with it. He never told Mick about all of the half baked ideas in his head, just the mostly baked ones. It took time for Len's ideas to form well enough for him to even consider going through with something, which meant that this little plan of his hadn't just been a spur of the moment idea he had come up with two minutes ago.

"How long have you been thinking about this?" Mick asked.

Len sighed and put a hand to his head. "A year."

"A year?!" Mick could hardly believe it. Len rarely ever thought through a plan for that long. A couple of months, sure, but a whole year? "Why haven't you done anything about it yet?"

"Because I'm a selfish coward." Len growled and Mick frowned at the anger in his voice, obviously directed at himself. "I've been procrastinating going through with this because I...I don't want to lose Lisa."

"Lose her? How are you going to lose her?" Mick asked, now feeling completely in the dark. "With your dad in prison you'll be able to have her all to yourself." Len shook his head.

"They wouldn't give me custody over her." Len said quietly. "I'm barely twenty years old, don't have a steady job, dropped out of high school, and have a criminal record. Nobody's going to see me as a fit guardian."

"So just show them that you are." Mick said fiercely. He didn't understand why Len seemed to just accept not getting Lisa. Len hated other people telling him what he could and couldn't do, and he would always try his hardest to prove them wrong. Len never let somebody else define what he was capable of, and yet that was exactly what he was doing now.

"No." Len said, his voice sad but determined. "Even if I could get custody of her, I wouldn't."

This stunned Mick into silence for a moment. "Why the hell not?" He finally asked. Len looked Mick in the eyes.

"Because she deserves better than that." Len said simply. "Lisa deserves a normal childhood, and she's not going to get that with me. I'm a thief, and I don't want that life for her. What if something happens and I get sent to prison, or worse? What would happen to her then?"

"She'd get put in the system." Mick was familiar enough with the foster system, having been in it for a time after the death of his family. Mick had only been in one or two foster homes briefly, when he wasn't in juvie, of course, but neither of them had been a very good experience. "Len, you gotta know that if you don't take Lisa now, she'll still be put in a foster home."

"But at least I'll be around to make sure it's a good one." Len said. "I know you've had bad experiences with the system, but there are good and caring foster parents, and I'm going to make absolute certain that Lisa ends up with them." Mick didn't know how he would accomplish it, but he didn't doubt him. If anybody could find a way to do such a thing, it was Len.

Mick still didn't think that this whole 'putting Lisa in a foster home' thing was a good idea, for either Lisa or Len, but at this point Mick believed that there weren't any truly good options. There were just bad ones, worse ones, and not quite as bad ones.

"It's going to work." Len said, though it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself. "Lisa will have the chance to have a real childhood, and she'll get a real future. She'll be taken care of. Right?" Len looked over at Mick, and he just looked so lost that Mick's heart kinda broke a bit.

"'Course she will." Mick assured him. "After all, I'm sure you'll take it upon yourself to check up on her multiple times every day. If anything is wrong with her, you'll be the first to know about it."

"True." Len let out a small broken laugh. "She's going to hate me for this."

"She's not going to hate you." Mick rolled his eyes. "Be angry as hell at you, sure, but she'll forgive you."

"I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to forgive myself for doing this." Len muttered.

"You're just doing what you think is best for her." Mick pointed out.

"I know." Len sighed, his eyes full of worry. "But what if I'm wrong?"

"Then you'll think of a way to fix it, like you always do." Mick said. "So, you know what you'll be doing with Lisa after your dad is locked up. Any idea what you'll do with yourself?"

"I'll probably find my own place somewhere in the city." Len shrugged and Mick internally gave a sigh of relief. So Len was staying in the city. Mick could have guessed that much. Len loved Central City, it was his home. But him going out and finding an apartment or something sounded like an okay idea to Mick. It was certainly better than him continuing to live in Lewis' house, which was what he had been afraid Len would do.

But, while Len getting an apartment was by far better than him living in the same house for who knows how long, Mick still had what he believed to be an even better option.

"Why don't you just move in with me?" Mick supplied.

"Mick, we've been over this." Len sighed with irritation and crossed his arms. He was obviously getting tired of this same old argument, and honestly, so was Mick. Especially considering they had already had it once that day. But this time was different.

"Yeah, and you said that you weren't moving out because you had to watch Lisa." Mick pointed out. "So what's your excuse now?"

"I don't want to talk about this now." Len said shortly. He stood up and would have walked out of the room, ending the conversation there and then if Mick hadn't grabbed his arm, stopping him. Len froze, like he often did when somebody touched him unexpectedly.

"Let go, Mick." Len said automatically. His voice was hard and cold, and Mick knew that he was just seconds away from snapping.

"Not gonna happen." Mick kept his grip on Len firm, but not so tight that it would cause pain. "Now tell me what's really going on."

Len stayed still and silent for a moment before saying in a voice so soft that it was barely audible. "I don't want to be a burden to you."

Mick was tempted to tell Len that he wasn't a burden, and it was ridiculous of him to even think he was. But he couldn't, because the truth was Len kinda was a burden. A burden was something that was difficult to deal with, that made things even harder. And, yeah, Len was difficult to deal with sometimes.

But the thing is, so was Mick, and everybody else in the world. It's just a fact of life that everybody was a burden to everybody else. Often times, helping out another person was just an inconvenience to you. But that didn't meant that it wasn't worth it sometimes.

"Yeah, you would be a bit of a burden." Mick admitted, because there really was no doubt about that. But he continued before Len could get the wrong idea about what he meant. "But the thing is, Lenny, you're the best damn burden I've ever had to deal with before, and believe me, I'm more than happy to keep on dealing with it. For as long as you'll put up with me, I'll put up with you." Because Len, and Lisa, were worth it all.

Len eyed Mick cautiously, as if he wanted to doubt his words, but didn't. Len knew Mick well enough by now to know that he wasn't the sentimental type. If Mick said anything that was even the least bit sappy or touchy feely, then you knew that he absolutely meant every word of it.

"I'll tell you what." Len said after thinking quietly for a minute. "Lisa's going to camp in a few days. While she's gone how about I stay here, as a bit of a test run? It'll give me more time to work on our little plan for my father, away from his prying eyes."

"Sounds good to me." Mick grinned. It actually sounded pretty great. If Len was staying here then he wouldn't be anywhere near his father, who would probably be in a bad mood, because he almost always was after a heist.

Besides, it would be good for Len to be here while he plotted the details of his scheme out. Mick knew better than anybody what Len got like when he was planning something. He got so caught up in what he was doing that he practically had to be forced to eat anything, literally had to be dragged into bed to get any rest at all, and would bite the head off of anybody that dared to disturb him.

If Mick could deal with living with Len 24/7 in these circumstances, he could handle Len any time. He could already tell it would be hard, for both of them, and if they really did end up living together there would probably be days when they felt like killing each other (like tomorrow, when Len remembered that Mick's apartment had only one bedroom which had just a single bed).

Still, Mick was ready to give this a try, and he was glad that Len was too. Things may get tough with the two of them, who really were polar opposites, living under the same roof, but Mick was sure they would be able to handle it.

They had gotten through a lot together, and they would get through this.

(First though, they had to survive Lisa's inevitable tantrum when she found out about this little plan. Heaven help both of them when that happened, because Lisa would surely not be very happy with either of them.)


End file.
